Till Death Do Us Part
by marauderslover15
Summary: thanks so much to aurevoir @ the-dark-arts .NET (TDA) for the beautiful image - So, will you marry me?" asked Hermione weakly. Draco watched the woman in front of him, desperation written all over her and agreed with a smirk, "'Till Death Do Us Part, Granger." (DRAMIONE FIC!)
1. The Proposal

**A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters, only the plot. All the ah-mazing work was by J.K. Rowling =D**

Her heart was in her throat, her insides rumbling with uneasiness and the blood pumping hard through her veins to keep her moving forward. _Forward, Hermione, come on._ She clenched her fist together, her nails digging deep within her skin. The slight pain was the only indication that this is real. This is really happening. And with this thought, it caused her to feel sicker about the whole situation. _Move forward._ Her eyes burned with intensity, focusing on the figure ahead of her. The black cloak was biting his feet and the hood draped his face, concealing his identity. He moved forward all the same. She pulled down at her hood, to ensure would go unnoticed as well.

The chilly autumn night sent shivers through her body as she pulled her cloak tighter around her chest, trapping in the warmth of her body. The figure ahead of her stopped at a pub with a dingy appearance, almost falling apart and faded name, "Leaky Caldron." He turned toward her as the moonlight caressed him, but the dark shadows of his hood left his identity unrevealed. He nodded at the pub and left into briskly. She stood outside, clutching her cloak over her heart and she took two heavy slow breaths before following the figure in. Inside she felt his cold hand find hers and laced his fingers through her fingers, holding tightly with protectiveness. He was the leader and led her to a table in an obscure corner of the lively pub. They both slid into chairs where they both could observe the action of the pub.

"There's no one here," the voice muttered.

"What am I supposed to do?" she hissed.

He placed his hand over hers, reassuringly and squeeze it gently. Minutes turned into hours of scoping the nature of the pub with no interaction with anyone else or let alone with each other. Hermione tapped her fingers on the table softly. Her tapping once stopped when a blond hair boy entered the pub with an essence of arrogance swallowing the air whole.

Hermione leaned forward into her friend's ear, whispering, "Call Malfoy over here. I have a plan."

He stilled at her words and it was obvious he was completing her demand thoughtfully. Finally, he nodded. As Draco Malfoy neared the two to speak to his Slytherin gang hanging out by a nearby table, he lifted his head to reveal his identity slightly. Draco could have not missed the too familiar face. Round glasses. Lighting bolt-shaped scar. Green almond eyes glaring at him. Harry put his index finger to his lips, a sign for Draco to stay quiet then motioned him to come to their shady spot. Draco nodded faintly and waved at his friends to give him a few moments. Draco stride cautiously to Harry and the other petite figure, unsure what to even think. He took a seat in front of the two, lying his hands to rest on the table, laced with each other.

He leaned forward and hissed lowly, "Potter, what are you doing here? They are looking for you everywhere." He then smirked, "Although, it would be amusing to see the Golden Boy arrested before my very eyes."

Harry cleared his throat, leaning forward as well. "We need a more private place to talk to you."

Draco sneered, "And why would I even want to talk to you?"

"You owe us a lot, Malfoy."

Draco peered at the other figure, realizing it was Hermione and wondering where was the other golden child of the trio was. He abruptly stood up and waved at the two to follow him. As Hermione got to her feet, Harry seized her wrist, holding her from leaving, murmuring, "You sure about this? About _him_?" She could hear Harry's distaste for Malfoy by the mere mention of him. She nodded as he released her with second thoughts playing over and over in his head.

Hermione followed Draco with Harry right behind her upstairs to a hallway of doors. The third door to the left, Draco fiddled with several keys before unlocking the door and stepping aside to let both of them in. He shut the door quietly behind him and with a wave of his wand, casted a silencing spell to prevent any possible eavesdrops.

Hermione pulled off her hood, her big chocolate eyes meeting with the stormy grey ones. Harry was much more wary, kept his hood on.

Draco crossed his arms, with a demanding look on his face. "What do you want?" he growled, clearly agitated. "You know how much I'm fucking myself over talking to you two?"

"Yes," Harry answered steadily. "We know. But all the things we _ever_ done for you, you owe us a hell of a lot."

"I owe you nothing!" he spat.

"I _saved _your life _twice_. Both me and Hermione went to court to clear your name as well as your mother's. Because of us, because of _me_, you were able to have a life for the last two years. We understand asking you to put aside these feelings of hate aside is hard, but please Malfoy. Help us. We all know you don't want any of us dead."

Draco's chest heaved with sigh, understanding the scope of what he owed the Golden Trio. As much as it burned him up to admit it, Potter was right. He didn't necessarily want them dead either as much as he hated them. And he could hear the worry in his voice and very few times of his life, he felt guilty. "What is it that you exactly want, Potter? I cannot assure you I can protect you or your mudblood from my father's persecution, but I'll do it," said Draco firmly.

Hermione cringed at the word "mudblood" as it was a stake right through her heart. The dreadful word echoing in her head painfully, but this cannot discourage her. She had to stick to her plan, no matter how drastic it was or how much hate was bubbling inside of her for Malfoy.

Harry looked at Hermione, waiting for her answer.

She finally said solemnly, "Harry doesn't need your protection, just me. I need it."

Draco's jaw tightened. "And tell me, Granger, what's exactly your plan to protect you, a mudblood, during times like these?"

There, that word again. It made her wince. "I'm proposing a marriage."

He was so suddenly taken back at her words, he did not realize his loss of composure. His mouth was slightly agape with shock. _Marriage?_

Even Harry was staring at her, fidgeting in a panic.

"Excuse me?"

"Draco Malfoy, you heard me clearly."

He smirked evilly, "And Granger, how is that supposed to protect you?"

"Considering you're the son of the new Deatheaters' leader, you could do whatever you want including marrying someone that is muggle born."

He didn't know what to say. This was a situation that was entirely new to him. A situation he couldn't understand why she would want to put herself in. They harbored so much hate for each other that it was explosive so how could she ever suggest to be his wife? Desperation. Not only was she the Golden Girl, she was muggle-born and every Deatheater was after her. He could care less about her predicament, his focus was on him.

"Why can't you stay with Potter or the Weasel?" he questioned with cold eyes on her.

"I have personal reasons that I cannot stay with either one."

"What does Weasel think of this?"

"What he thinks is none of your concern, Malfoy."

"You want to spy on Deatheaters, huh?" he smirked. Now he understood the motivations.

"No, Malfoy," replied Harry with his voice unsteady with rage. "I only found out her plan when she just told you. Our main concern is protecting ourselves against the rise of the Deatheaters. And if you don't believe me, I will gladly take veritaserum to prove to you I am not lying."

"You know I have a girlfriend? How am I supposed to explain my sudden engagement to a mudblood?"

That word! Every time it slipped his lips so easily, it slapped her in her face, smacking some sense into her. But she ignored the cries of protest of her heart and keep her head steady.

"You were cheating on her," replied Hermione. "With me, of course. This entire time. But because of prejudices we were driven to keep it hidden and even went to extent to date other people to hide it. Now with this national muggle-born witch and wizard persecution, you were afraid for my life and the only way to grant me immunity was to marry me."

"Are you bloody stupid?" Draco spat violently. "This will never work!"

Hermione whispered, "Malfoy, please."

Draco massage the back of his neck and didn't pay any mind to Harry, his eyes were boring into Hermione. He understood, they both were desperate, they wanted to stay alive. And this was her way. Her way of surviving. Just like him during the Second War. He didn't want anything to do with the death gang, but he had to survive. And it was the same all over again now. With the Deatheaters taking control again, he wanted to survive. So he joined his father pursuits. The anxious girl before him was just like him. Survival is what made them the same, connected them in a way.

What will happen to his survival if he gave in to help and marry her?

"Please, Malfoy. I know, I know I am asking a lot of you, but…I just don't know what to do anymore. Don't do this out of debt or you feel as if you have an obligation us. If you were to do this, do it from the bottom of your heart where there has to some goodness left."

Goodness? He almost wanted to laugh. He was never good no, but… when she said that, he wanted to sweep her off her feet. No one ever viewed him like that. He was labeled evil by everyone even his own friends. Draco played his expected role with harsh mannerism and ruthless bullying. Maybe it was time for some goodness. Deep in his heart, unconsciously, he wanted to prove Hermione right. He made his decision quickly, he was going to do it.

After some silence, Hermione spoke.

"You don't have to, Malfoy, just know that. I don't want to force you into any of this, but…" Hermione chocked back sobs. "I need your help."

He replied indifferently, "I know. I've got my free-will, you don't need to tell me that, Granger. But I've already made my decision."

"So, will you marry me?" asked Hermione weakly.

Draco watched the woman in front of him, desperation written all over her and agreed with a smirk, "'Till Death Do Us Part, Granger." 

**A/N****: I think the common knowledge is Harry saved Draco's life in the Room of Requirement. But there is actually a second time when Draco was arguing with a Deatheater who was pretty much threatening him, Harry stunned the Deatheater, saving Draco's life a SECOND time. So, two times just in case anyone was like NOOOO! So, its honestly a YEESSSS lol ;) ******

**On that note, please review 3**


	2. Hermione's Flashbacks

**A/N: I can't believe I have a couple of reviews already, followers **_**and **_**favorites! WOW! Thanks so much. =D**

_Flashbacks_:

Hermione sat by the window, soaking in the warmth of the sun's rays as she watched the trees' leaves dance playfully in the slight breeze. She sipped her tea, savoring the Earl Grey as it warmed her body more. She set the tea on the round wooden table, and pulled down at her sweater sleeve. She rested her head lightly against the window, smiling. Life could have not been more prefect. Her home was filled of love and warmth and she always felt a safeness in here.

"Good morning."

She turned and smiled at the tall, red-head in front of her. And smiled wider, examining the freckles sprinkled on his face. She swore his freckles were always more noticeable in the morning. "Good morning."

Ron's blue eyes twinkled with happiness as he leaned forward and kissed her hard on her lips. "Where's my tea?" he whispered playfully against her lips. "Actually, I prefer bacon right about now."

Before she could answer, a tapping noise was clicking against the window pane. Ron leaned forward, unbolting the locks and lifting it to let the eagle owl in. It ruffled its feather, holding out its leg with a small note attached to it. Ron unattached the note and read it quickly. The note fluttered out of his hand onto the table, with his hand over his mouth.

Hermione looked at her fiancée with fear. "What's wrong, Ron?" But he didn't answer. She snatched the note up to read it herself. "Oh Merlin…" she whispered, her hand covering her mouth in shock. She read it again. And again. Hoping this is not what she read. But every time she read it, the words became clearer and clearer.

Lucius Malfoy has escaped Azkaban.

****

The tea in her hand was trembling, drops slashing out onto her paperwork. She choked back the tears as her hand crumbled part of the Daily Prophet, the headline clear, "More Muggle-born Killings of Witches and Wizards." They are killing their own. _Don't be so daft, Hermione_. _They don't view a witch like you as their own. You're a mudblood to them. _She finally set her tea down. She buried her face into her hands, steadying her breath. She cannot believe this, she could not, and then she heard it: an alarm in the office, screeching with lights flashing. Her face fell. Ron rushed into her office, cupping her face and kissed her hard.

"I love you," he said, staring into her tear-filled eyes.

She nodded and once he was at the door, she whispered softly, "Be safe." He turned toward her slightly and forced a smile and left. The alarm had died down, but the flashing lights of the alarm emitted from the glass spheres floating in the air that were still strong. She tried to take another sip of her tea, but she was shaking too much. She couldn't deal with the worry. The love of her life was out there. And every time those cursed alarms rang and he left, she never knew if he would ever come back. She stood up somberly and left her office, finding herself on a whole another floor in the office of Reeves Carrington, the head of the Auror's department. He looked up gravely from paper work and nodded. She threw herself into a seat across from him in his desk. She leaned onto the table, resting her head and burying it into her arms. She felt a hand stroking her hair, comfortingly and she let out a loud sob. He didn't say anything. Nothing, but his gesture was all she needed to let loose. She stood like that for hours and he was patient with her until the door slammed open. She perked up her head with flushed tear-stained cheeks and wet lashes, her red eyes squinting to recognize both men: Harry and Ron. She threw herself into Ron's arms who held her tightly, burying his face into her neck.

Reeves gestured to the seats in front of him and they all sat down as he asked gravely, "How many casualties?"

"Two. Gerrett and Howell," replied Harry, indifferently.

Hermione gazed at Harry, knowing her best friend too well. He wasn't indifferent because he didn't care, but this was his job, to stay calm and unemotional.

"Shit," muttered Reeves. "Two of our best. What happened?"

Ron cleared his throat and you could see the worry in his eyes clearly, unable to suppress it like Harry. "Malfoy was leading them…"

Reeves sighed, resting his head in his hand. "We cannot deny it anymore. Deatheaters are rising again, but this time led by Lucius Malfoy."

"At least he isn't almost immoral," mustered Hermione.

He shook his head, leaned back in his chair and his hands folded on his lap. "The problem is there are more Deatheaters than ever before. I need to speak to the Minister now, so if you would excuse me please." He stood up and straightened his cloak. He left without a look back to the most trusted employees.

****

Hermione clutched her bag tightly around her, surveilling the cobble streets of Diagon Alley, noticing an unusual amount of people in black cloaks, hiding their face. She picked up her pace, paying attention to every detail. She was so detailed, she immediately noticed a flyer pinned to a wall. She stopped in front it, her heart racing. She swallowed hard as she hitched her hand in her pocket, grasping her wand. She officially was wanted. Her face smiled brightly in the picture then faded out to a brisk nod. There was bounty for her capture, a thousand galleons. She eyed other stores around the area, noticing wanted flyers with moving pictures of her, Harry and Ron.

She felt a presence growing closer and she did not hesitant to start running. She ran for all hell, her legs moving forward without her being connected to her body mentally. Adrenaline was pumping hard in her and that was the only thing that kept her going. Her mind was completely blank.

"Mudblood, get back here! Stupefy!"

She immediately ducked and then skidded to a halt at the Weasley's shop, banging endlessly hard on the door. "George, let me in," she cried wildly. The cloaked figure was charging toward her as she pointed her wand at him, sending a stunning spell his way. It hit him directly in the chest and he fell like a puppet. There was no break though. Other cloaked figures rounded the corners of other alleyways and to Hermione's wish, George pulled her in, slamming the door shut. He held tight onto his her arm and she felt a squeeze as if she was going through a tube.

The Weasely's joke shop was no more. Instead there was a fireplace, crackling and licking the wood. There were velvet couches with the Weasleys stuffed in them, embracing her other. She found Ron next to his mother, holding her tightly, hoping his embrace can bring some comfort to her. Her eyes averted to Harry, leaning against the wall, his wand at his side. Reeves came in, hands behind his back. Dark bags were under his eyes, showing he been under a ridiculous amount of stress for a while.

He cleared his throat as all eyes averted to him and he spoke sternly, "The Ministry has fallen…yet again to the Deatheaters." His chest heaved with a deep breath as his voice became unpleasantly unsteady. "You are to all go into hiding." There were loud protest from everyone expect Hermione and Harry, who stared at Reeves. He held up his hand to silence them. "You as the Golden Trio are the most wanted. And of course, your family will be in danger just like you. Hiding for now is the most tactical move. So we are here to discuss where you'll be hiding. I suggest you all hide at different locations so there will be spilt ups."

Fleur piped up, "Ve can ztay my parentz house in France."

"I will stay at Sirius' house," Harry answered. Harry and Ginny's eyes meet, talking silently to each other.

"I will go Harry." With this, Ginny stride toward Harry, and you can see the shimmer of the diamonds when it passed the fire's light. She held his hand.

No protest came from the family. There was no need. They completely understood.

Harry continued, "I'll be taking Ted and Andromeda to Sirius' place too. Don't worry, Carrington, it has plenty of defensive spells. We will be well-hidden."

Mrs. Weasley reached forward to touch her daughter-in-law's hand gently. "We will go to France."

"Very well," Reeves nodded. "Harry will stay in London, that way we will have eyes on them still. I suggest while your family is in France, rally up allies. With allies, this time around we can crush the Deatheaters. We cannot fight this alone, not anymore. It's time to crush them once and for all."

"Where would I go?" asked Hermione weakly. All eyes landed at her, furrowing their eyebrows completely confused.

"Hermione," said Mrs. Weasley. "With us of course. Don't be silly, dear."

Hermione shook her head, rejecting the offer. "No, I want to stay here in London. When something happens, I want to be here. When they show even a small crack, I want to break through it, _here_. When I see their weakness, I want to destroy them with it, _here_. I'm staying here. In London."

Ron stood abruptly to her feet, going towards her, "Hermione…"

"No, Ron."

He stopped in his tracks.

"You go with your family. I'm strong. I can do this."

Ron looked at her sadly, knowing she would protest if he would stay with her and protest if he demanded her to come. He turned to Harry, muttering reluctantly, "You'll protect her?"

"No." All eyes landed on Hermione again. "I won't be staying with Harry either. I refuse to get in the way of him and Ginny. They just got married."

"Don't be so bloody stupid," spat Ginny.

"We will have Ted and Andromeda with us anyway," Harry replied, crossly.

"My decision is already made. I will find someone else to stay with."

Ron looked at her angry with disgust. "How can you be so stupid!"

"Ron, don't," she warned.

"Yes, don't," agreed Reeves. "We all decided on what we are going to do. I will be going to America to rally up allies and forces there. We will spend the last night here and tomorrow morning, we will leave to our designated hiding places. My house has been enchanted so every couple has a room to themselves. Now, have a good night."

Hermione followed Ron who stormed into a bedroom, slamming the door behind them. "The _fuck_, Hermione?" he hissed.

She couldn't face him. If she did, her heart would shatter. This was their last night, together until who knows when. She just wanted to survive through all this, until it passed. She wanted to stay alive for Ron. She stalked to the bathroom, shutting it quietly without an answer. She peeled off her clothes, conjured up silk pyjamas and slipped them on. She walked out, finding Ron already in bed, his face buried into his hands. She slithered into bed with him, placing her hand on his bare back, rubbing gently and comfortingly.

He looked at her and kissed her hard, with desperation. He then whispered against her lips, "Let's make love, my beautiful future wife."

****

_His wife no more_, thought Hermione bitterly as she glared at Draco. _This disgusting, horrid man before her, she will be a wife to him now. _

Harry broke the silence, "Malfoy, I'm going to ask you to do an Unbreakable Vow."


	3. Dark Magic

"Harry, please," pleaded Hermione. "This is really unnecessary!"

"No, its fine Granger," Draco growled, his eyes piercing Harry.

"You see, he says, its fine," said Harry irritably.

Draco nodded at Harry, his jaw tightening.

"Malfoy, are you completely sure about this?" asked Hermione weakly.

Draco rolled his eyes violently, "Yes, Granger."

Hermione eyes glanced at Harry and Draco back to Harry and back to Draco, staying on Draco longer than what she intended. Draco may have been ugly on the outside, but that ugliness was only trapped within. His sleek blonde hair was sleek back and his skin was beautifully pale. His stormy gray eyes dulled with ice. He always stood tall and proud though. He was like a man veela.

"You know you really don't have to…"

He glared and her and examined her. Her big chocolate eyes were fawn-like so innocent and pure, goodness filling them. Her once bushy golden-brown hair was tamed from what he remember. And her skin was light with a soft touch of tan, either way she glowed more radiant that he had ever seen her. He remembered her clearly on the first day of school and how unflattering she was, but now she was beautiful which may be the reason way he is not so reluctant to marry her. And she had faith in him, something no one ever had. He really wanted to prove her right by doing this act of kindness for her. Although now, bags were forming under her eyes and her eyes were bloodshot from probably all the stress she was undergoing.

"Enough, let's get this over with already."

Harry held out his hand as Draco snatched it roughly as they both kneeled in sync. Hermione was shaking as she pointed her wand at their hands. Draco and Harry's eyes met, as a thin red wire of light wrapped and wrapped over their hands, connecting them.

Harry spoke clearly, "Will you, Draco Malfoy, marry Hermione Granger?"

"I will." His voice, to his surprise was actually, firm and clear.

"And will you, to the best of your ability keep her from getting persecuted?"

"I will."

The wire burst, sending shatters of the light into the air, fizzling out. Draco wrenched his hand from Harry's grasp, snarling and got to his feet. Harry stood somberly, taking Hermione's hand into his, cradling it. "Hermione, you're my best friend. I love you so much. Please, take care of yourself. You know where to find me…" Before he finally turned away from her, he asked one last thing, "You sure about this?"

Draco growled, "Mudblood better be sure. It's a little too late."

Harry released Hermione, kissing her on the cheek and faced Draco. "Treat her right."

He smirked, "That wasn't part of the vow, now was it?"

Harry shoved past Draco, pushing hard on his shoulder with one last fleeting look to Hermione. Hermione fiddled with her cloak, anxiously with regret raining on her hard. What was she doing? This is the most risky and not to mention, stupidest plan she came up with. She will be in the center of the enemy.

"What now?" asked Draco with distaste.

"We should stay here together and leave the room tomorrow morning…_together_," she drawled.

"What for?" he snapped.

"So when we _leave_, people will see us together… So we have witnesses to confirm some sort of relationship."

He rolled his eyes violently, disgusted by her. "I'm going downstairs to drink and be with my friends. That's what I came here for anyway."

"Will you be back later?"

"Yeah, whatever." He left with a slam, leaving a worried-some Hermione. She was doubting him every second. She knew he did the vow, but still, she was suspicious of him. What if he went downstairs this very moment to tip off the Deatheaters that she was up here?

She drew her wand quickly, pointing it at the door. She listened intently, to hear anything similar to heavy footsteps or creaks on the wooden floor, but it sounded incredibly still outside. Warily, she pocketed her wand and turned to bathroom. Of course, he wouldn't do that… He'll be breaking the vow… She ran the hot water in the cobblestone tub with wooden frame and stirred her wand in the water, creating bubbles. She peeled off her clothes, setting them aside. She first dipped her toes in the warm water, shooting heat to the rest of her body. Hermione slowly climbed in, allowing the water enclose its heat around her. She leaned back, staring up at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts.

She was going to get married. It felt surreal. She pinched her shoulder, sending a tad shock of pain. _Oh yeah, it's real, alright_. She sighed disappointedly. Her decision was rash, but perhaps it would be for the best. She could spy, something that didn't occur to her until Malfoy had mentioned it. This is what she wanted. To bring the enemy down… But how much was Malfoy a _real_ enemy? He decided to protect her, setting aside his own morals. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes. She reached for the wand and waved it, shutting off the water. Steam wrapped around her, concealing the surroundings of the bathroom with its thick gray cloud. She started become drowsy, fading in and out of her thoughts until she escaped to her bittersweet dreamland.

She stirred at the shuffling of heavy feet and gagging noises which sounded much like someone vomiting, followed by harsh coughing. Hermione's eye unbolted with the word _shit_ replaying over and over in her head. She peeked over the tub, to find Draco clearly, draping over the toilet. His hair was ruffled and he looked slightly sick. He breathed heavy with his body heaving up and down. He vomited again, muttering, "Ugh."

Hermione slouched back into the tub, hoping she would go unnoticed. She squeezed her eyes shut and heard a flush.

"I can see you clearly," he muttered.

She opened her eyes to find him towering over her his eyes checking her out. Instantly, she slapped her hands and arms over her breasts and between her thighs to cover her naked body. She flushed deeply, roaring, "OUT! OUT!"

But he didn't move, but stared lazily at her, noticing every curve on her body. Petite. Hour-glass figure. Flat stomach. Good size breasts. Full C-cup, maybe? Her thighs were…_sexy_. _You're a bloody moron, Draco_, he scold himself. He turned and stomped out of the bathroom with a crash, furious with himself.

She waved her wand and locked the door, allowing her to immediately relax. She heard the sounds of vomit again. She gagged at the thought of it, but shook it off. She stepped out, sending shivers up her body, but used her wand to warm her body. She conjured by her silk pyjamas and her face immediately fell. Damn her and her silky pyjamas! She pulled on the short shorts and the low tank top, laced with lace. She peeked out the door to find Draco, holding a garbage can near the bed, rocking back and forth on the floor, moaning. She rolled her eyes.

As arrogant and boastful as he is about his wits, he wasn't really competent. Probably because he was always being completely spoiled by his parents. She came out of the bathroom as he looked up at her and bluntly stared at her legs. She moved gracefully to her bag, digging through it, pulling out a small bottle. She then went to go crouch by Draco, holding out the bottle to him. He put the garbage to the side and snatched the potion from her.

"One sip should do." Hermione started to climb onto the bed, but Draco tugged at her ankle a little too hard where she fell onto his lap.

"Where are you going?" he slurred.

"Going to the bed," she snapped irritability, trying to get away from Draco's strong grasps.

"No you're not," he hissed in her ear. She smelled the heavily harsh scent of alcohol in his breath and turned away, utterly disgusted, scrunching up her nose.

"Oh yes I am!"

"I sleep in the bed."

"Malfoy, let go of me, this instant!"

"You sleep on the floor," he drawled.

"Ha!" she scorned. "I'm the _lady_ here, Malfoy. Is gentlemen-ness not a trait of Slytherins?"

"I am a gentleman, Granger. Not to mudbloods like yourself though. You're lower than dirt," he spat.

Hermione was raged. How dare he? Flames were rising up in her body, she wasn't going to take this from this…this…snakey git. She bit down on his arm and he yelped, releasing her. She crawled on top of the bed, onto the other side and positioned herself to a battle stance. Draco stood abruptly to his feet, swallowing the potion whole and throwing it aside.

"Granger," he growled huskily, feeling his sickness fading away quickly.

"Malfoy!"

He made his way swiftly around the bed as Hermione started to climb it to escape to the other side. But Malfoy was too quick. He pulled on her ankle again, dragging her toward him and turned her onto her back. He noticed her fist coming at him, but grabbed both of her wrists and held them above her head. And the damn woman, wouldn't stop squirming. He pressed his body against hers, restraining all movement from her.

He was inches were away from face, snarling, "I get the merlin cursed bed!"

His hands tightened on her wrist as she felt desperation consuming her once she saw the dangerous glint in his eyes. His eyes averted to her chest, the top so tight, showing the curves of them. He released her immediately and pushed off of the bed. He then with a wave of his wand conjured up a bed and picked her up with ease. Her threw her roughly on it and pulled off his shirt and pants to stand in his boxers. Her face flushed at the beautiful man before her. His muscles rippled sexily and his abs were severely defined. Ron's looks was nothing compared to the man before her. She peeled her eyes away, but he noticed.

He smirked, "Want a piece of me, do you Granger?"

Hermione rolled her eyes violently. "I'm pretty sure a giant is a thousand times better looking than you, Malfoy." She conjured up a pillow and a fluffy quilt and threw the quilt over her, up to her chin. She looked away from him.

Draco climbed into bed, settling himself among the thin sheets as an October icy draft crept right through the window, sending shivers throughout his body. He groaned inwardly, remember why he almost never stayed at the Leaky Caldron even if he had bought a room. He stared at his wand lazily then his eyes lower to Hermione, sleeping peacefully and…beautifully. _Idiot._ He rolled his eyes at himself. Then he smirked mischievously and leaned down to snatch up the quilt.

Hermione immediately felt cold bite her. She snapped her head in all directions and heard a suppressed snigger. She peeped over the main bed, finding Draco, cozy in her quilt. _Her quilt_. She jumped onto Draco, wrenching the quilt off of him and Draco took her, slamming into the bed. He laid onto of her, his face full of fury.

"Can I sleep in peace, Granger?"

"YOU!" she cried. "You're the one causing trouble, disturbing me!"

"I get what I want Granger. I got the bed. Now I want to quilt. I will have it without you protesting."

They both heard the doorknob rattling and a second later, a dark man stumbled in mumbling, "Draco, let me crash here." His eyes landed on the two, Draco on top of her, their faces very close together, staring at him.

Blaise rolled up his sleeve hurriedly, revealing a skull with a snake slithering out of its mouth: the Dark Mark. His wand was drawn, he was inching his wand to the mark.

"Blaise, what the bloody hell you're doing?"

"Going call to Lucius. We've got the mudblood," he smirked evilly.


	4. Remember Where You Stand

The Dark Mark blazed an intense jet black as Draco slapped his hand over his forearm with a pained look. Hermione scrambled to get her wand, pointing to Blaise when the door burst open with hooded figures piling into the room. They seized her arms as she began to fail, resisting her capture. She would not be taken, she would not! She wanted to survive. For Ron. For Harry.

She was dragged back into reality by Draco's booming voice.

"NO!" roared Draco, startling Blaise to a still. "Are you a bloody idiot? Can't you see I'm trying to have sex with her!"

Blaise face fell and shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't know we do that type of things now…" He shuddered.

Draco climbed off of Hermione as she felt relief washing over her, now that he was a good distance away. He stalked to Blaise, yelling in pure fury, "I'm doing anything wrong to her! It's consensual! You think I'm a bloody beast!"

Blaise's face hardened exaggeratedly. "Is that so, Draco?"

Draco's throat went dry, feeling himself under an uncomfortable amount of scrutiny. His heart began to race, skipping every few beats. He made a vow. Not just the unbreakable vow, but a vow to himself, to prove himself good even in all this mess. Draco cleared his throat and avoided the question instead by asking another irrelevant to Hermione. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Blaise cocked an eyebrow. "Draco, we're good friends. Tell me why she's in your bed."

Draco heaved with a sigh, closing his eyes, preparing himself. "She's my fiancée."

Hermione clapped her hand over her mouth. He said it. He really said it. This was the first step. She watched Blaise carefully, waiting for his reaction.

He frowned, thinking too hard, "But what about Astoria?"

She released her breath. She expected a worst reaction with threats and scolding. Relief consume her yet again.

Draco shrugged. "She never meant anything to me."

Astoria did have an unusual place in his heart, he was the only girl he ever really cared about, but that didn't mean he was solely hers, of course he still fooled around. But if anyone was going to be his wife one day, it would be her. She was pureblood. Beautiful with blonde silky hair, reaching down to her waist with bright celery-green eyes. Her image was burning into his mind, slowly falling to ashes, knowing he would not be with her ever again.

"So—"

"Blaise, I have been with Hermione shortly after Hogwarts, but because of prejudices, we thought better to keep it hidden. Yes, I've dated Astoria, but you know, Blaise, it wasn't too serious…"

"Who else knows?"

"Just you… Don't mention it to anyone."

Blaise's eyes met Hermione, boring into her until she could no longer take the burning and averted her eyes downward. She never was one to back down, but in the situation she was in, she was too close, close enough to the enemies' bite.

"What's that bed there for?"

Draco answered quickly, "For you. I figured you'll be crashing."

"Is it ok that I crash?"

Draco nodded and Blaise nodded back at him, but his eyes landed on Hermione, staring at her, not a glare, rather waiting for her approval. She was slightly taken back. Was he being _respectful? Considerate?_He held out his hand as she gazed at his large hand. She slid off the bed, walking warily to shake hand his hand. His grip was firm, but yet somewhat comforting. The reek scent of alcohol though made her uncomfortably nauseous. She noticed his eyes grazing her body without any constraint. She was then pulled backwards and Draco stepped in front of her.

So, he loathed Hermione and she was stupid filth, but what was his, was his. He cocked his eyebrow, questioningly. Blaise face fell in slight embarrassment and crawled into Hermione's conjured bed. Draco led her onto his bed and he threw the thin sheets to Blaise. He slithered under the quilt as Hermione did the same.

He had to admit this situation made him extremely uncomfortable. He had slept with women, but never _slept_with any woman. Right after the fun, every woman knew to leave shortly afterwards even Astoria. Her image was faint in his head, he knew one day if he was going to get married it was suppose to be her and here he was lying with his new future wife that he was so sure he could never ever love. Then quickly, without meaning to, Hermione in her silk pyjamas flashed vividly in his head, feeling unable to control his arousal. He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, furious with him and his fucking body, reacting to her that way. Mudblood, mudblood, mudblood and continued to repeat endlessly in his head to calm his feelings down.

Hermione wanted to disappear right into the bed, she was lying with Malfoy! She felt dirty, her thoughts wandering to Ron. What would he think of this? What would he think of her? She covered her face, she was so ashamed. Would Ron ever want her back after this whole thing? Her heart plummeted and a sensation irritated her throat, a feeling so close when one wanted to vomit. Ron wouldn't want her. She knew there was no reason to even _hope_ that he would. Malfoy is Ron's nemesis and doing this, even if it was fake, was an insult to Ron, a betrayal to him. She had to kiss Ron goodbye forever. She began shaking violently whether it was because of her fear or she was cold, she needed comfort: warmth.

"Give me some of _my_quilt," Hermione hissed, tugging on it, as it slightly slipped off of Draco, leaving half of his body exposed.

Draco turned to her with a threat flashing in his eyes and jeered, "I suggest you stop because I have no trouble hexing you."

"Neither do I, Malfoy."

"Just do that complicated spell to warm your body up. You'll be fine," Draco growled, watching her body aggressively shake then he sneered as he ignored Blaise's snore loudly in the background. "Why would you wear those _things_ to sleep in mid-October on a night that is _well_ below the average, Granger."

She rolled her eyes fiercely. "Why don't you put something warm on? You're the one half-naked! Actually, please do that. You're making me uncomfortable."

He smirked, "Please, it's a blessing for someone of your disgusting looks to be next to me half-naked."

She flushed with her cheeks, burning. "No. I think you're too pale, ever heard of a tan? And not to mention, your hair is like it was badly dyed."

Did the mudblood insult him? Draco tore the quilt completely off of Hermione, exposing her beautiful thighs and legs and he felt his cheeks warm with a blush slowly creeping as he just greedily took them in. He knew he couldn't leave her exposed, she would only be a distraction and he would not be able to tame his arousal. He then pulled her closer to him roughly, pressing her chilly body next to his, engulfing her with the quilt. Hermione was taken over by surprise, but the surprise left as soon as it came, leaving guilt in its place.

"Comprise, okay? So shut up and go to sleep already, it's already three in the morning," he rumbled. "And look the other way," he added curtly as he turned, his back facing her. _Show her good, Draco_, he scolded himself. _I comprised at least_, he snapped at himself.

"Thank you," she whispered faintly.

He heard her soft voice, sounding sweet in his ear, but he pretend not to hear her, shutting his eyes. Draco was pushing her away from him mentally, but it was proving to be difficult. He ran his fingers through his hair, breathing heavily. He felt the bed shift, knowing she was turning away from him and feeling the silk brush against his bare back.

_Draco_, he told himself, _remember where you stand._

*****

Hermione heard faint bustling out the window, knowing it must be afternoon as it was usually busy with crowds in Diagon Alley. Her eyes fluttered open and squinted at the sun's rays seeping into the room vibrantly. She felt a heavy arm and peeked behind her, clasping her hand over her mouth to stop herself from shrieking from shock. She forgot. She was expecting Ron next to her; she was used to seeing Ron next to her. The man next to her was no Ron. He was Draco Malfoy. She examined the peaceful face, with soft pale skin and long blonde eyelashes. He was even more gorgeous when he was sleeping…with his mouth shut too so no ugliness slipped past his lips. She thought of Blaise and peeked over as best as she could, to find him and the bed gone. _He must have left_, she thought. Draco stirred, shifting slightly and tightening his grip around her and pulled her closer. Then she felt it. She felt _it_ poke her as her face flushed hard. _Is that his…Oh, Merlin it is!_

Hermione panicked and thought of the only logical thing to do without thinking how angry she could make Malfoy right now, "GOOD MORNING!" she roared. Draco snorted awake, fumbling for his wand. When it was found, he pointed it at all directions, trying to find the threat.

His wand was aiming at her when he spat, "What the _fuck_, Granger!"

She shook her head, climbing out the bed and rushed, locking herself in the bathroom. He started after her. He ran both hands through his hair, calming himself down. Draco's head was not pounding like it usual did when he woke up. His body was relaxed and felt refreshed. No nightmares last night he thought happily. He rummaged in his head to find what he dreamt of last night. His cheeks became a burning hot red as he looked down to his lap, flushing harder than he had ever before at his arousal. He finally remember his dream… him and Hermione as he became more aroused by it. He ran his fingers through his hair, grumbling angrily at himself._Idiot. She's not attractive. She's a mudblood. A mudblood!_

He quickly got dressed into a white button-up with sleeves rolled up, revealing his Dark Mark as he stared at it uninterestedly. He pulled his black jeans over his finally calm body and fitted into his shoes. Draco left momentarily to finish his morning routine somewhere else and to ask for a quick favor, leaving the room still, the only sound was the faint bustling. His heavy footsteps meant he was back in the room. He sat at the edge of the bed, thinking.

_This is going to be alright_, he nodded to himself. _Everything will work out. Granger is not so bad, I guess…_ Draco experienced a flashback of their third-year when she had smacked him hard and he smirked at the memory. Granger was tough and even more so now. Even though there was desperation in her yesterday, it was daring of her to suggest what she did. Did it make him strong for agreeing? He genuinely smiled, for shedding some of his cowardice last night.

There was a soft knock on the door and he opened it to find a man with gray hair sleeked back in black robes, eliciting his sophistication. "Sir Malfoy, this was the best I could do in the short notice." He held out an emerald velvet box.

Draco picked it up and shot a nasty glare at the man, but opened it. He nodded with smugness. "This will do. Thank you."

"May I ask who the lucky lady is, sir?"

Draco hissed, "No, you may not. So go!"

The older man slightly bowed, taking his leave without a hint of offensive. Draco slammed the door behind him, cursing the man's nosey question. Draco took his seat again at the edge of the bed, opening and closing the box, smirking every time, wider and wider.

Hermione eventually came out in an ugly forest green jumper and slightly baggy jeans, her eyes averted to the floor awkwardly. His first thought was that the hideous jumper did her body no justice and he wanted to see her flattering curves. The next thought slipped right of his mouth, easily, "You look disgusting."

Her eyes lifted to his with an angry spark. "You should be lucky, Malfoy, you have a future wife now. No one would even dare marry a person like you especially with such an ugly mouth."

"There was someone who did," he growled, throwing a green velvet box at her feet. He watched her with his jaw tightening as she picked it up carefully and opened it to find a huge center diamond with diamonds surrounding in and emeralds glittering on the sliver band.

She clapped her hand on her mouth, gasping. "It's beautiful. It was for Astoria?"

"What? No!" he snapped. "For you!"

Her heart plummeted. _First he calls you his fiancée, now he gives you a ring,_ thought Hermione. This Draco completely confused her. She replied weakly, "Why…?"

He snorted. "Really, Granger? Did you forget about last night? You're my fiancée now." He said this with a mixture of overwhelming feelings of actually wanting to please her and pure hate. I guess there's a fine line between hate and love, although he didn't necessarily love Granger. He started toward her, snatching the box away from her and pulled out the ring. He then threw the box behind him as Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. He gently took her hand, slipping the ring on, and both watching the ring, glistening brightly.

Hermione swallowed hard before she was able to muster her question, "Who wanted to marry you?"

His eyes shot to her face and she could see the annoyance in them. "Astoria. My parents were trying to arrange a marriage between us. She is…_was_ my girlfriend, so everyone thought of it as appropriate. I'm too young to get married though so I naturally rejected the offer. It didn't mean that I wouldn't marry her someday, just not _now_. Somehow, we still maintained our relationship after her little heartbreaking espisode."

"Malfoy, so why say yes to my proposal?"

His stormy gray eyes bore into her chocolate ones as he snarled, "I have many reasons, Granger. None that you need to know." 


	5. Draco's Flashbacks

Chapter 5

_Flashbacks:_

The crows cawed distantly from the trees as some rose to the dull gray sky which was thick with clouds. The wind was strong, blowing roughly through the May spring green trees. It was a sad time. People all in black gather by a cemetery stone as some sobbed loud and hard and others quietly let the tears roll down their cheeks. Draco glared miserably at the tombstone which read:

Vincent Crabbe

1980-1998

Always in our hearts

Snakes craved around the inscription elegantly as white and black roses were piled at the footing. Draco's felt small hands rub his back and pulled weeping Pansy into a one-sided embrace. He could hear Gregory choking back sobs, Vincent was his best mate.

"Let me grieve in peace!" shrieked Mrs. Crabbe shrilly. Draco turned his head slightly and felt sicken by the Aurors hunching over the Crabbe family. He watched them bitterly as they were breathing down their backs.

"Draco." He could hear his father's voice crisp and clear. He turned to his father and was pulled into an apathetic embrace. Lucius then turned to his wife, caressing her cheek as she flinched back slightly. "Take me away," he said firmly. The Aurors buckled chains around him and disapparate with a faint pop. Others were leaving too with their assigned Aurors, meaning the mourning was over. The captured Deatheaters will return to Azkaban while waiting for fair trails.

"What are they doing here?" hissed Pansy.

Draco followed Pansy's glare to the hill top. He could never forget those too similar faces. There he stood with his nerdy glasses and the annoying untidy hair, looking actually gloomy. Next to him, she was there, her bushy hair and her stupid big brown eyes that were filled with tears that eventually dripped down her rosy cheeks. He scowled. They have no right to be here. None at all. This was their fault. That poor Crabbe was lying in his grave. But his unconscious was asking, _Is it really their fault Draco?_

"Excuse me," he mumbled to his friends. He hiked up the hill to meet with them, rage eating his heart away. They watched each other with silence killing them softly.

Finally Hermione whispered, "I'm sorry, Malfoy." And she really did look it. "I wish things wouldn't have turned out this way. I really do wish Crabbe was still here with you."

He snorted repulsively, "We don't need pity from a mudblood."

Harry's eyes flared with rage and opened his mouth to curse at him, but Hermione cut him off, "Harry, it's alright. _Really_. Malfoy, I know these next few months are going to be difficult for and so much negatively will be surrounding you, but if you need _anything_we're both here for you." Draco opened his mouth to insult her, but she quickly said, "I know. I know. You don't need anything from _Potter_ or a mud…" She inhaled and exhaled hard, forming the word on her tongue, "mudblood, but we're offering all the same if you need anything. Anyway, take care."

He glowered at her as she laced her fingers with Harry's and turned away from him, leaving him incredibly lonely.

-

Draco felt himself shake and it was definitely not due to cold weather, it was June. Draco was petrified for his awaiting trail, he was so sure that he will be locked up in Azkaban 'till his rotting days. He felt his knees weak, giving in and he tried with all his might to keep himself hoisted up by holding on to the wall. His legs were shaking too much.

He felt a hand, rubbing against his back, comfortingly and he relaxed slightly under the touch. Then he heard a voice he never expected to hear. "Malfoy?" His heart dropped as he snapped his head toward her, backing away from her.

"Oh, I didn't mean to—er—scare you. I just wanted you to know, everything is going to be alright."

He watched her warily as she became uncomfortable by the silence and began fidgeting with her bun. Compared to when he saw her in May, she looked really differently. Hermione's hair was tied back to a bun, with a few waves playfully falling into her face. She wore muggle-clothing which suited her too well: a white button-up tucked into a pencil skirt with a thin black belt and lastly her black pumps with red bottoms allowed her legs to look incredibly slender.

"Ah, um, well, me and Harry will be at your trail today and—"

"For what?" he snarled. "Want to ruin me, don't you?"

She rolled her eyes at him violently. "No, _Malfoy_." He could tell her distaste for him was seeping out. "Me and Harry have been working to clear your name for the last month. And your mother's as well. We been going sleepless for days, hungry because we didn't even want to stop and eat and denying ourselves any pleasure to help _you_. Now, if you would excuse me, I have to clear a _ferret's_ name. You might want to prepare yourself for _your _trail," she finished bitterly.

She walked past him with her heels clicking and he turned to watch her. He became horridly mortified when his eyes lower to her bottom. He snapped his head away from her, flushing hard and cursing at himself. _Is she still the Weasel? _Then he cursed himself again. He then wondered if she was telling the truth, about helping him clear his name. Another clicking of heels in a different direction was heard in the distance, but still hoped it was _her_. His mother instead turned the corner, whispering sweetly, "Come, Draco. It's time, love."

"Mother?" he mumbled weakly, child-like.

"Hm?"

"You think I would get off?" His voice was faint, full of worried.

Narcissa squeezed her son's shoulder, reassuringly. "If I did, you will especially. Don't need to worry. You will…have _strange_ people helping you."

He immediately knew who his mother was referring to: Hermione and Harry. Had they helped his mother too for her trail? Hermione did mention it herself. He would never know for sure because his mother was forbidden to disclose any trail information until they were completely over with. But he was pretty bloody sure they helped her too. And this burned him up inside, now he felt like he owed them…_again_.

Upon entering the courtroom, Draco stumbled in, with a sickening feeling settling in his insides. Row and rows encircled a still chair and a single desk that stood in the center of everyone's intention. Every seat was filled and he was disillusioned as if the rows were endless, towering over him and reaching as far up as the sky. Silence fell before the courtroom as he staggered into his chair. He focused on the golden banners falling around the room of a centaur, a house elf, a goblin, a witch and a wizard, all standing proudly as equals. _So, much has change_. Even the small change of the décor of the courtroom, had his head spinning as if everything in the world was going through this grand movement and it was… The world was moving forward and he'll be damned if he got left behind.

He couldn't help, but notice familiar faces. Professor McGonagall with her lips pressed in a thin line, looking down at him sternly. Professor Slughorn looking rather exhausted and ill, but the concern was twinkling in his eyes. Arthur Weasley, looking shabbier as ever, with dark bags under his blood-shot eyes. His eyes finally landed on Hermione and Harry sitting next to each other, whispering lowly. From there, his eyes lifted to Minister Shacklebolt sitting in a tall seat in the center, looking down at Hermione and Harry mumbling hurriedly.

The Minister cleared his throat. "Everyone settle down."

Hermione and Harry both turned away from each other, staring at Draco. He caught her eye and she looked away grudgingly, glaring at the paper pile in front of her.

"Criminal hearing," Draco flinched at the word "criminal" as the Minister said it, "of fourteen of June into offenses committed under the Decree of Unforgivable Criminal Acts by Draco Lucius Malfoy, resident at the Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire. Crimes were committed through the year of nineteen-ninety-seven to May nineteen-ninety-eight. Interrogators: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic, Reeves Carrington, head of the Auror Office, Percy Ignatius Weasley, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, America Ide Gilmore, Rhoswen Olwen."

Draco looked at each individual, but never met their eyes, utterly ashamed. He has been branded as a criminal who has done unforgivable things. If they are unforgivable, he cannot be forgiven and he came to the most logical conclusion, he might as well be thrown in Azkaban now.

Kingsley peered over at the Golden Boy and Girl and continued, "Witness for the defence, Hermione Jean Granger and Harry James Potter. Anything you want to say first, Mr. Malfoy?"

His throat went dry and he choked on his words, nothing being able to slip out. He continually closed his mouth then opened it, on an endless repeat. That's it. He was doomed. His head was pounding with thoughts: _escape, hex them._

Hermione cleared her throat and stood as she flattened her skirt and she drew all eyes away from Draco onto her. "Mr. Malfoy here, was a victim of his father's ideas, beliefs and prejudices that were forced onto him. He was used as a tool by his father and others and was constantly threatened with his life by his father and Lord Voldemort" Most of the courtroom shuttered. "All he ever wanted was to survive so he reluctantly complied."

Each word Hermione said, Draco's heart pounded against his chest.

"Mr. Malfoy did not use any of the unforgivable curses and committed no crimes. He did not kidnap anyone, he did not torch anyone, he did not exert control on anyone and he certainly did not kill anyone."

He met Hermione's eyes, knowing all too well, what she was thinking, he almost committed murder against Dumbledore

"Miss Granger, on my report here, it says Mr. Malfoy was the one that allowed the Deatheaters' entrance into Hogwrats on May second nineteen-ninety-eight through connected cabinets—"

"That was only thing he did, he was force to do and did _reluctantly because his life would be in danger_. What would you have done, _Mrs. Gilmore_? Would you have surely died, right? You would probably allow yourself to get _killed_ with years and years of life ahead of you?" When America Ide did not answer, Hermione rolled her eyes, he knew she could not control her temper and for some reason, he found that incredibly cute then scolded himself. And Hermione continued, "Mr. Malfoy always had good intention, as Harry can explain."

Hermione took her seat as Harry stood up now, adjusting his robe slightly. "During our journey to find the horcruxes, me, Hermione and Ron were captured my snatchers and brought to the Malfoy Manor. Hermione had hexed my face to look distorted, but I was still recognizable. Draco Malfoy was asked to ID my face, but pretended as if he did not recognize me. Because of him, he postponed Lord Voldemort—" Again the courtroom trembled "—from arriving and allowing time for us to eventually escape."

Harry sat back down as Hermione rose. "It should be taken to account that Mr. Malfoy was also a victim of the unforgivable curses specifically the Cruciatus Cruse by his_own_ father and Lord—" The courtroom did not wait for Hermione to finish saying his name and shivered "—ugh…He-who-must-not-be-named" and the crowd nodded thankfully. "_Draco Malfoy_" he could still hear the distaste she had for him, "was a victim like the rest of us."

A witch from the crowd shouted, "My son tells me you both hate him! What are you doing defending him?" Draco scanned the crowd looking for the witch, but could not find her because the crowd was in an uproar. The loud protest had him feeling hopeless again.

"SILENCE!" roared Kingsley and with his booming voice, he restored order in an instant. He peered at Hermione, waiting for an answer.

Draco stared at her anxiously, waiting for her answer too. What if now, she told everyone he deserved to go to Azkaban? He felt a sickening feeling at his throat and controlled himself from vomiting.

To him it was obvious that Hermione forced a pleasant smile and replied, "Hate is a such strong word. I am not friends with Mr. Malfoy, but what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong regardless of _personal_ feelings" He heard the poison in her voice seeping through. "And what would be wrong here," she shot a glare at Draco, "is to convict Mr. Malfoy of crimes he did not do and what is right here to let him go without any charges…_at all_." Her eyes met Kingsley as they had a stare down. After a couple of fleeting seconds, she sat down and glowered at the crowd with her arms crossed.

Kingsley cleared his throat, "Please, those in favor of clearing the accused, Draco Lucius Malfoy of all charges?"

Hands shot quickly in air, literally everyone voted to clear the charges and a grin, a wild, mad, wide grin appeared on Draco's face, a grin you would never ever see on Draco Malfoy. He didn't even care if America Ide was scowling at him and the only other witch who didn't vote in his favor was probably the witch who burst out during the hearing. He couldn't give less than a shit though. His eyes landed on Hermione who didn't look as pleased as him and his grin faltered. People began to pile out expect Harry and Hermione who stood rooted to their seats, hissing at each other. He strained to hear what they said,

She hissed, "You know the _only_ reason why they let him go without too much of an argument was because of who we are."

"I know, but be thankful he's cleared. It's what you wanted, right?" whispered Harry

"It's what _we _wanted. He may be a…"

"Say it, a prick."

Hermione rolled her eyes violently. "Yes, I suppose, but he doesn't deserve to get locked up forever like America Ide wanted him to." He watched her shuffling papers and stepped out with Harry without a glance back at Draco and Reeves following after them. Draco stood up, he wanted to run after her and thank her, but his mother came scurrying in and pulled him into a tight embrace, burying her face in his neck.

"Oh, I'm so glad. I'm so glad. We are free, Draco." She pulled back at him, examining his face. "What's wrong, dearest?"

He shook his head and mumbled, "Just a little exhausted."

Narcissa forced a smile. "Okay, come on, let's go home."

"No thank you, mother." He kissed her on the cheek. "I'll be meeting up with some friends now to celebrate."

She nodded briskly and they left the court together, leaving their terrible, controlled lives back in the courtroom. Before she turned left, she smiled at him and bid goodbye. Draco slightly nodded, his focus more on the woman standing not too far away from him, talking to Harry and Reeves. He leaned back on the wall and decided to wait for her, but eavesdropped intently.

"Miss Granger and Mr. Potter, I know I keep continually complimenting you, but I think you're both bloody brilliant! How about jobs as Aurors for the Golden Trio?"

Harry grinned, "I would love that. And Ron would definitely too."

Hermione slightly smiled, "I'm sorry, Mr. Carrington, but I have to reject your offer. I intend to go back to finish my seventh year at Hogwarts."

Reeves smiled brightly at her, "Smart girl, aren't you? Well, when you graduate I expect to see you in my office. Come walk with me Harry to my department and call your friend, Ronald." Harry and Reeves walked away from Hermione as Harry turned around gave her a quick wink then both stepped into the elevator, shooting up.

"Granger," Draco growled. He didn't mean to sound so…nasty, but it was a habit.

She held her hand up, a sign for him to shut it. "I don't want to hear it, Malfoy. I get. You don't need help from a… mud…mudblood or _Potter_. I didn't expect to hear a thanks from you anyway. Now, I hope you can enjoy the rest of your life. Good bye," she finished curtly, turning and walked away from him with her hips swaying.

_**Preview of the next Chapter:**_

_Flashbacks Part II_

He clanked the bottle of firewhiskey against Blaise's bottle and chugged the entire bottle, blissfully. Blaise grinned at Draco's enthusiasm. How could Draco not be enthusiastic? He just walked clear from the charges and was now leaving his past behind. He scanned the crowd, hoping to find a beautiful woman to call his for the night. But it was hard to spot anyone in the waves of the crowd with loud chatter, buzzing in his ear.

The crowd disappeared though, once he saw her. She walked in elegantly with a wide smile on her face and her body fitted sexily in a bodycon dress. He staggered to his feet, almost falling, but kept in control or as much control as he had, which was very little. He was going to go up to Hermione. She'll be his for the night. 

**A/N: I know, this is a long chapter! AH!**

**I hope everyone is not getting annoyed with the flashbacks, but I think they are incredibly important to give insight to the characters' lives for the last couple of years especially Draco who helped and accepted Hermione's proposal a little too willingly. I promise only one last flashback chapter for Draco and probably the rest of the story.**

**Please review XOXO 3**


	6. Draco's Flashbacks II

**A/N: HI everyone ^_^ Okay, let me do some explaining. This is happening 2 years after HP-DH. Lord Voldy is defeated and there was about a 1 and half of calamity. About 6 months ago, Lucius escaped Azkaban and started a second wave of a new regime of Death Eaters. If anyone wants more clarity, please email me. =D **

**Also thank you so much for the reviews! ^_^ **

He clanked the bottle of firewhiskey against Blaise's bottle and chugged the entire bottle, blissfully. Blaise grinned at Draco's enthusiasm. How could Draco not be enthusiastic? He just walked clear from the charges and was now leaving his past behind. He scanned the crowd of the Leaky Caldron, hoping to find a beautiful woman to call his for the night. But it was hard to spot anyone in the waves of the crowd with loud chatter, buzzing in his ear.

The crowd disappeared though, once he saw her. She walked in elegantly with a wide smile on her face and her body fitted sexily in a bodycon dress. He staggered to his feet, almost falling, but kept in control or as much control as he had, which was very little. He was going to go up to Hermione. She'll be his for the night. Weaselette came in, talking to Hermione adamantly and he felt slightly discouraged. He slowed his pace to her with hesitation and doubts pounding in his head. _Don't, she's a mudblood._

Hermione sat gracefully as the Weaselette followed after her. She obviously said something to make Hermione laugh and he heard it clearly, ringing sweetly in his ears. Then another flaming-red figure, he noticed right away and when the Weasel kissed Hermione hard, he felt hate bubbling inside of him, exploding, he was raging mad. _They both deserve each other,_ he thought bitterly. He turned right, eyeing a blonde girl with bright green eyes.

"You're Astoria Greengrass?" he slurred. She blushed slightly and nodded, taking a sip of her firewhiskey. "You're really beautiful…" He squinted at her. "Hey, aren't you underage?"

"Sh, Draco! I'm obviously giving it to her!" scolded Daphne. Draco stared at Daphne, examining the similarities between her and her sister. She had a bit darker mousy blonde hair at the roots fading into the light golden blonde hair color that Astoria had. Her eyes were more a tad bit more almond-shaped with aquamarine irises.

He shrugged, _Close enough._ "Hey, come with me."

Daphne tried to suppress a smile as her sister shot a glare at her. "Where?"

He leaned toward her and whispered huskily in her ear, "Upstairs." She looked up at him and he smirked, tucking her hair behind her ear. She gave him her hand and he took it gently, leading her upstairs with one last look at Hermione, feeding his fuel. His last image of her: she was running her thumb down Ron's cheek, starting into his eyes, not even noticing Draco's existence.

He had to say, he was rough with Daphne, but all the anger that was pumping through him was going into his kisses. He kissed her hard with force, pressing all his weight on her. He grabbed at fistful of her hair, jabbing his tongue in her mouth. She elicited moans from underneath him and he took her in hungrily, burning away the image of that woman.

*****

The wand was at the tip of his throat, he felt it poking him uncomfortably and the tip get hot, stinging into his skin. Caine Joss was at the other end of the wand, pointing it at Draco threateningly. "Deatheater. I know everything you did. You think it's fair for you to walk free?"

Draco held onto his wand tightly and shaking, slowly losing self-control. He was going to hex this little prick into oblivion and he didn't care if he was on his last warning. Draco has willing to get expel to curse the ugly-giant-face git. His wand started to move toward him, but stopped. She came quickly, pointing her wand at the boy.

She flicked her wand down, motioning for Caine to drop it. "Down, put it down." Caine's face was stricken with a mixture of terror and angst. His wand dropped with a clatter and Hermione kicked his wand toward Draco. He stared at Hermione, slowly and cautiously picking it up. She held out her hand, her eyes unwavering from Caine and Draco handed over the wand. She lightly kicked Caine's foot, ordering, "Back up now." Caine shuffled back and she pocketed both their wands. She sighed heavily.

"Caine Joss, correct?"

He nodded faintly.

"As Head Girl, you have dentition for the next two weeks for threatening, bullying, intimidating and showing no respect to your peers. I will also dock you points, fifty that is." She looked indifferently at the Ravenclaw hourglass, as some sapphires disappeared then looked back at him. "You're wand will be confiscated for the rest of the weekend. And try something like this again, I will personally make sure I have you expelled. Now, good day."

Caine opened his mouth to say something, but when Hermione cocked her eyebrow, challengingly, he closed it and stormed away without another word. She rounded on Draco as he was taken back slightly then formed a disgusted face.

"Like I can't fucking handle myself, Granger," he spat.

And he saw the fire flaming up in her eyes. "I _helped _you! You're on thin ice, Malfoy, so I did what I had to do as Head Girl and was being considerate, knowing your situation!"

"You think I give a shit? So what if I'm expelled, I could care less! And I would rather get expel than get help from a mudblood!"

The fire was gone and replaced by serve sadness. "You are such a sad person. So many times I've tried to help you. But I've been foolish, I was blinded by what I wanted to see. I can't find any good in you Malfoy. I was obviously mistaken."

She turned to leave as his heart dropped. _No, no, don't leave, I'll show you… _She slight faced him and relief washed over him. _She didn't mean what she said…_

He could hear her words faint, "Oh, and twenty points and one detention tomorrow with Flinch." She rounded the corner, disappearing from sight. He began shaking with anger, _that bitch_! _Flith! Mudblood!_ He was hexing, jinxing and cursing the wall like mad with his wand flailing in every direction, spells bouncing off the walls. He felt everything rise up inside him: wrath, disgust, resentment, confliction, misery. But he was sure of one thing: He hated her.

*****

"Uh, excuse me, I was sent here for—"

He held up a piece of paper and the cute secretary cut him off quickly, "Walk in through the doors behind me, make a left, walk all the way down to the hallways then make a right. It's a dead end so it will be the office right in front of you. And maybe once you've finished," she leaned forward and flashed a dazzling smile, "You can take me out to lunch?"

He smiled charmingly, "We'll see." He stalked off, following her instructions, her face faintly in his head. Then scolded himself for not checking out her body. At the dead end, he stared at the closed door, mumbling angrily to himself. His eyes glance at the name at the side of the door, then took another glance, holding his stare.

Hermione Jean Granger

House-Elves Liaison Office

He scowled at this, ever since they graduated he was able to avoid her and the rest of those pathetic blood traitors and now here he was about to come face to face with her. Last time he came into contact with her was a year ago, when she given him the detention. Knocking loudly on the door, he then heard her sweet voice, "Come in!"

He entered to find her hunched over some paperwork, scribbling quickly. Still looking down she said, "Please take a seat. Just give me a moment."

Draco took his a seat at her desk, his eyes averting everywhere in the office. Pictures of house elves filled the office, on the walls, on her desk, on the shelves and although there were tons of pictures, he noticed the one of Dobby right away. Repulsed by the sight of the picture, he scrunched his nose and stared at her hair falling around her work. Utterly disgusting. Mudblood. House elves rights. Stupid girl.

Hermione's eyes lifted up to meet his and she immediately leaned back into her chair, setting down her quill and crossing her arms. Her eyebrows rose questioningly as she asked as politely as possible, "Can I help you, Mr. Malfoy?"

He rolled his eyes and slammed the paper onto her desk. "You called me here, Granger."

Her eyes did not leave his as she picked up the paper. She glanced down and pulled out a thick packet from her desk, sliding it to Draco. "There are new laws and regulations going into effect regarding House elves. You can sit here and read it if you want. Or I can give you a brief summary then you sign this," she placed a sheet paper on top of the pile, "and be on your merry way, but you'll be held accountable for everything in that packet." She cocked eyebrow, waiting for his answer, clearly annoyed by his presence.

"Summary," he growled.

"Basically since you have," she peeked at the middle of a packet near her, "ten house elves," she rolled her eyes, "living in your _Manor_, you'll be in charge of proper treatment towards them."

"I'm not fucking paying them!" he spat.

"Malfoy, if you do not adhere by these rules you'll be _forced_ to give up your _ownership_as others would like to call it. So, now I will start. You, Draco Lucius Malfoy, are to deter self-inflicted punishment by the house elves. You are to not commit abuse to your elves including verbal, mental, emotional and physically abuse. Physical abuse includes harming the elf in anyway such as hitting, kicking pushing, denying food and water and so on. You are not to commit any criminal acts against your elves including _threatening._ You are to provide your elves with proper clothing and proper a living for them. You are to agree if an elf wants wages, holidays, benefits or wants to enter a union. You are to free an elf if that is his or hers request. And above all, you are to treat your elf with respect. Summary over. Now sign here." She pointed at where he needed to sign with the quill.

"You're fucking kidding me?" She shook her head as Draco picked the quill up, starting at the sheet. "What if I don't want to pay them?"

Rolling her eyes violently, she snarled, "Malfoy, _if_ they request it. IF!"

He smirked, "I'll make sure they don't."

Hermione ran her finger through her hair, setting her hand afterwards on the desk. A ring was glisteningly faintly, but playfully from her left ring finger. And the first thing he wanted to do was rip it right off of her finger. He snarled, "Engaged huh, Granger?"

She glanced down at the ring and simply nodded.

He snatched her hand, pulling her forward as shock etched across her face. Glaring at the ring, he became conflicted as he felt the softness of her hand. "Cheap ring, isn't it?"

Hermione wrenched her hand out of his grasp and snapped crossly, "Sign it already!"

"Weasel couldn't afford a better a better ring for the Gryffindor princess? He doesn't have much money or any money to his name for that manner so I guess not. Bet he had to sell the Weaselette for that piece of shit."

He knew he struck a nerve as she began shaking with fury. "Not, everything is about money, Malfoy! I didn't say yes to Ron's proposal because of money or anything so superficial! But for the good in him and what's in here!" She pointed at her heart. "Something you'll never understand. And you'll never even amount to half the man he is! Now. Sign and get out."

Draco was beside himself with fury from hell that he could not even muster anything to say. All he wanted to do was jinx her on the spot along with the Weasel. He scribbled his signature and left without another word. At the secretary desk, she purred, "How about lunch?"

Cute, he thought. Round face. Big Amber eyes. Black hair in a bob with a fringe. Rosy cheeks. _Really cute_. "Get up for a minute?" And she stood grinning childishly and her big breasts immediately caught his attention. He smirked, "How about lunch at my place?" Her grin grew wider and she nodded bashfully.

This woman was an example that he didn't want or need Hermione, he could have all the women in the world.

*****

Frantic knocking on his bedroom door abruptly woke him from his slumber. He squinted his eyes around his room and the knocking continued with a voice in between every few knocks. "Draco!...Draco!"

He leaned to the side, reached for his wand at the bed stand and waved it, unlocking the door. His mother stumbled in with wide eyes and he immediately knew something was wrong. "What happened?" he asked, slipping out of the bed.

Narcissa held onto his shoulder, shaking and breathing heavily. "Your father…he…Draco, he broke out of the Azkaban!" She broke down into sobs, but the shock kept him still, unable to pull his mother into a comforting embrace. He stared lifelessly at the wall. What did this mean? For his mother? For him? His heart was beating fast, what will happen now?

He got his answer immediately.

His forearm scorched with pain as he backed away from his mother, slapping his hand over his forearm, crying out in pain. As the pain soothed out, he took a peek at his forearm, his Dark Mark clearly visible. The rise of the Deatheaters. 


	7. Kitten's Play

Kittens' Play

_Previously…_

"Malfoy, so why say yes to my proposal?"

His stormy gray eyes bore into her chocolate ones as he snarled, "I have many reasons, Granger. None that you need to know."

_So many reasons Granger that you can never understand_, thought Draco bitterly as he glared at Hermione who was gazing at the ring.

"How much did it cost?" she whispered gloomily.

Draco snarled, "Ten times more than what the Weasel paid."

She immediately understood his reference. He had seen the ring before and she thought of the ring Ron had given her knowing perfectly well, he put love into choosing the ring. All Draco put was money. She wanted to tear off the ring and chuck it out the window even if it was beautiful. This ring didn't belong on her. Hermione's hand wandered to the ring Ron had given her that was tucked under her jumper on a necklace.

Draco studied her movement carefully, noticing a thin necklace draping around her neck, then disappearing into the jumper. "What is that, Granger?" When she did not answer, he gently pulled out the necklace with one finger. His upper lip curled to keep him from speaking, as he recognized the three-stone sliver engagement ring. His eyes went dark, foreshadowing his impulsiveness. He wrenched the necklace from her neck, snapping it in two and stomped toward the window.

Hermione attempted to pull him back, but her strength was no match for his, he didn't even bugle, her voice echoing, "Malfoy! No! Malfoy! Please!" Draco unbolted the window loudly and tossed the necklace right out the window and it was engulfed by the bustling crowd.

Hermione leaned out the window, her eyes scanning wildly. She knew it was impossible to see the ring from here, but her eyes wouldn't and couldn't peel from the mob as if someone in the crowd would lift up her ring and ask, "Did you lose this ma'am?" Her body was shaking violently as he knees began to grow weak, but she held onto dear life on the sill. _Her wand…_ She turned to see Draco pocketing it and he shook his head, "No." Her knees gave way as she fell onto the ground, still holding on to the window sill, crying out in pain that was stabbing endlessly at her heart. Crouching down beside her, Draco growled, "Let it go, Granger." NO! NO! NO! She stumbled onto her feet, scurrying out the door.

Draco sighed heavily, getting to his feet to glower out the window, waiting to see her golden-brown hair in the crowd. _Good, the mudblood will be off my hands, better for me. And if she dies, well who really cares anyway._ The word persecution rang in his ears, she _can't_die. Now, his eyes hunted madly in search for her and he could not have missed the golden-brown hair that was swallowed by the crowd. His heartbeat quicken with a hard jolt every few beats as hooded figures prowled toward their prey.

Hermione's vision was blurred, her eyes were a lake of tears, swimming and overflowing. Her body was shaking aggressively with despair as she pat the cobblestone street, feeling out of the ring. Then, she saw a flashing twinkle in the autumn golden light. She hurriedly crawled toward it, hope rising to power over the despair. She slapped her hand over it as a grin began to form. But then a jerk of pain was sent through her hand as a foot dug into it. Her heart thundered in her chest as her stomach turned to ice, stilling her. She lifted her gaze slowly to see a man's ghastly face under a hood. She could clearly see the scar slashed across his sallow face, deep craters embedded onto his skin.

"What do we have here?" he wickedly grinned, baring his yellow teeth and digging his foot harder on her hand. Hermione suppressed a whimper of pain as his grin grew wider. "Ugly thing, aren't you, mudblood?" His eyes wandered the ring on her left hand, it sparkling blindly. "Well, what is _that_?" Hermione buried her left hand under her chest and tucked in her head into her body, shielding herself. The man laughed hollowly as the weight was gone from her hand, but her scalp was screaming in pain as the man pulled her up onto her knees with a fistful of hair. He was crouched in front of her, his face inches from her and breathing heavily. Her nose was flooded by the bitter stench of firewhiskey and the musty smell of cigarettes burned the insides of her nose.

She slightly turned her face in utter disgust and he took offense to it immediately. "Granger, right? Think you're better than me? Brightest witch of our age, my arse! If you were so bright, why are you walking around in broad daylight when you're _wanted_?"

"I suggest you let go of her, Farrow."

Both the man and Hermione looked up a beautiful handsome dark man with slanted black eyes and raven hair falling into his eyes. Blaise. Farrow, the man, released her with a shoves as she fell onto her bottom. Blaise tugged Hermione onto her feet, holding her closely. She heard him muttered faintly, "Merlin, you look ugly." Then he spoke to Farrow, "I'll take her to Malfoy."

"No, I will be doing that honor." Draco was there with his arms crossed. "Give me the filth."

Blaise scowled and pushed Hermione into him and Draco squeezed tightly onto her arm. "I'll mention both of you for your good work today. Now, good day." He dragged Hermione past Farrow who bared his teeth as if he wanted to take a bite of her and Blaise who scrunched up his nose in disgust. As Draco moved, he saw the Ron's ring and kicked it slightly into a crowd of people. Draco moved into a deserted alleyway and pushed her against the wall, hissing. "The fuck, Granger?"

"This is your fault," she spat.

He slammed his palm on the wall near her and lowered his face to hers. "We need to talk some rules." She shoved him back, away from her and he stumbled onto the opposite wall and bared his stunning pearl teeth, angrily. He leaned against the wall with his arm crossed. "First thing is first. You are to _always_ stick by my side. You don't get to run off."

She rolled her eyes violently, "What do you care?"

"WHAT DO I CARE? Granger! Let me _remind_ you if you die, I die right after you. At this point, you have two lives on your shoulders. And I can assure you, my life is much more valuable."

Her face contorted in an ugly fury as her eyes flashed threateningly. Malfoy was too arrogant for her taste and should be for anyone else's taste. And she would never be able to understand the flocks of women who threw themselves at him. For what? He was a…how did Harry say it once? Oh, a _prick_.

"Secondly, you need to let the Weasel go. That's putting both of us in danger. He's a distraction to you. You can't play the role of my fiancée or my wife when he is drilled into your brain."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me clearly, Malfoy no."

"Granger, I suggest you listen to what I tell you," he snapped irritability. "If you don't, then I will surely go through drastic measures such as lettering him how you _slept_ with me last night."

Hermione froze and swallowed her pride. She knew at this point, Malfoy was the dominant and she would have to play the submissive. "Okay," she lied through gritted teeth.

"Thirdly, you look absolutely disgusting like a," he scrunched up his nose in disgust, "a mountain troll."

Wrath was bubbling in her like lava ready to explode. "I. Am. Not."

He waved his hand, dismissing her claim. "Either way, we're changing your…you need to change…_everything_. I don't know what happened between last night's attrite and today's, but now you look like an ogre."

She scowled, "This is what I usually wear and last night was rare. I _once _in a while wears things like that so do not insult me, Malfoy. I _know_ I look perfectly fine."

He started toward her and placed his hands on the wall, either side of Hermione, cornering her. "Let me ask you a question," he said with venom in his voice, "what do you think my parents will think of you when you look like that?" Shock rolled over her as she stilled, entirely forgetting about his parents. "They'll look at you and see a woman who looks as filthy as her blood."

"I do not look filthy," she growled, repressing her thoughts of his parents, still focusing on her appearance.

"You look like a woman goblin who was raised by giants. And my parents will surely mistake you for one. Now, we will head out to grab some clothes, entirely tame your hair" as he lightly touched her hair "and everything else which you obviously need. I will not have you looking like a disheveled mess around me. I will have you totally transform into a _decent_ enough woman for my parents, especially my father." He moved away from her.

There, he mentioned it again, his parents as the overwhelming dread of it all caused a sickness in the pit of her stomach. Hermione wanted nothing more, but to crawled into a hole and hide out there for the rest of her days. Draco was a blur in front of her as her vision blurred and her mind became fuzzy. She was having an out of body experience, unable to move, still to the root. His parents might kill her. Why didn't she think of this before? Of course, Malfoy lived in the Malfoy Manor, where else would he even live? And now since he was the prince of the Deatheaters, he was probably more obligated to live with his father.

She gulped hard, finding her voice. "When will I meet them?"

"Tonight. Let's go."

He threw her a cloak, but she didn't catch it as it faltered to the ground. He rolled his eyes violently at her, impatience starting to grow. He bent over to pick it up and draped it around her shoulder, clicking the button. He tugged the hood to cover her face. Draco seized her wrist and she moved with him obediently.

Hermione eyes' darted, taking in every detail of the crowd. Many of the witches and wizards seemed to be fine in all this mess. Must be purebloods and halfbloods. It was not hard to notice so many figures in black hooded cloaks either, lingering about in every store, every alley, and every corner. And out of habit, she yanked the hood down on hers to ensure she would go unnoticed. But of course, she would go unnoticed, she _fitted _in. It was like she was one of them. With that unpleasant thought, it chilled her body. She _was_ to become one of them through…Merlin, she could not even fandom the word because she was too disgusted by it.

"Here, we are." So un-gentlemen-like, Draco went into the store first without even holding the door open to allow her in first. She sighed sadly, she was beneath him in his eyes and that will be a huge adjustment for her. She followed after Draco into the dimness of Black Cat's Den.

Inside it was decorated for a dark sophisticated feel. The wallpaper was designed in a gray background and raven damask pattern. Black velvet vintage couches posed in the middle along with a glass ice lucite center table. Shadowy curtains swept the floor of the large windows in the front that towered up into the ceiling with a painted renaissance gothic art. The picture on the ceiling was of a black winged witch in a cloudy dark gray sky, pointing her wand and a green snaked wrapped around her wrist and her wand. Wired mannequins with protruding curves hosted different fashions, but all with one similarity, every piece of clothing in the store was black. Some clothing had accents of sliver and some of green. And every piece of clothing looked incredibly expensive.

A black cat with blond ear tips and big green eyes with a hint of yellow rounded the corner and sat in front of them. A tornado of black smoke surrounded the cat and exploded into the air as black glitter, playfully glittering in the dim light and left a lady standing there. Her smirk rose her high cheek bones and her yellowish-jade eyes twinkling mischievously as he blonde curly hair from her bob fell into her eyes spiritedly. She was a bit bony and tall, but stood with flaring confidence. She had obviously wore a piece of clothing from her own store, a black vintage maxi dress with an ankle-length cut, a v-neck with knot detailed at her high waist and the sleeves stretched to her wrists.

"Draco," she purred, walking to him with open arms with hip swaying exaggeratedly. She cupped his face with her hands and kissed him hard. Hermione's mouth hung in shock. She looked a decade and an half older than him. Draco unfazed by her gesture, lazily laid his arms around her waist. She pulled back, giggling lightly.

Draco licked his lips and smirked and released her from his grip, taking a step back. "Evelyn. Here to do business."

Evelyn playfully pouted. "Business is no fun. But pleasure is."

"I need a piece of _every_ clothing you got here. And choose something…warm, but _playful_ for right now."

She cocked her eyebrow. "Who's the special _lady_?" She glanced at Hermione.

"Don't worry about it. Just make sure it's charged to the Malfoy account."

Evelyn curled lips in annoyance, but turned to a rack, sliding each clothing with a rasp against the metal pole. She pulled out an off-shoulder sweater dress and conjured black opaque stocking and moved gracefully to a shelf, taking velvet knee-high boots. She shoved it into Hermione's arms and pretend not to notice the quick glint of Hermione's ring. "Dressing room is to the back," she drawled, glaring.

Hermione slid past Draco and Evelyn, absolutely irritated by her flaunting confidence in her beauty, well, of course, she was beautiful. Hermione pulled the black curtains of the dressing room and stepped in, closing it behind her. Hermione pulled off the hood and pressed her hand to the mirror, outlining her features. Why couldn't see look like _that_? She heard Ron's voice, ringing in her ears how he teased her that she wasn't girly or sexy. "I love you no matter what though," she heard his voice filled her mind. She smiled halfheartedly at the thought of him, but her heart was cracked slightly with the yearning for him. She hadn't seen him in a month. She unbuttoned the cloak and it fluttered to the floor. She stripped her clothing off, to stand in her underwear. Hermione pulled on the sweater, fitted her legs into the stockings and slipped her feet into the boots. She finally took a look at herself. Exactly what Draco described: she was warm and the clothing was playfully sexy in a way, it showing her curves faintly, allowing men to use their imagination. Slouching down to the floor, Hermione pressed her forehead against the mirror. Merlin, did she want to cry. Not cry with tears, but cry out, to scream her heart out. She pounded her fist either side of the mirror, gritting through her teeth, "UGH!"

Hermione heard almost a faint husky groan. _Shit_. She scrambled to her feet, throwing on her cloak and yanked the hood over her face, realizing Draco and Evelyn were waiting outside for her. She wrenched the curtain open and in that instant, all in one motion, Evelyn was half way to her feet, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and a smirk threatening on her lips and Draco was buckling his belt then zipped his zipper up. Hermione's crimson cheeks were burnt with mortification.

Draco cleared his throat, "Hem, hem. Please, Evelyn, I need every beauty product you have. Now though. The rest of the clothing I need it delivered to the manor by tomorrow morning."

Evelyn forced a grin to Hermione, waving her wand, tons of products falling into her arms. "Is that why, you hide your face dear? You're ugly?"

"Evelyn," scolded Draco. "Leave her alone." Draco held out a bag and Evelyn dropped the products into it. "Evelyn, this is the last time we'll see each other." Evelyn pouted, batting her eyelashes. "No more. I mean it. I have other things to attend to." He glanced at Hermione. "Come." He motioned to Hermione and she followed past a livid Evelyn and out the store to walk the cobble streets of Diagon Alley.

Outside, Hermione couldn't even contain her thoughts and spoke them outloud. "That was disgusting!"

He rolled her eyes violently. "What is, Granger?"

"You, first off, she's like thirty-five—"

"She's thirty-two. And I'm twenty. I'm of legal age. So what of it?"

"_Still._" Hermione gagged. "And Merlin, she was doing such a lewd act…_to you_."

Draco smirked his infamous smirk. "Women actually enjoy doing those things to me. Literally _begging_ sometimes. And don't be such a prude, Granger. As if you never done those things to the Weasel," he finished distastefully.

Hermione had not. She didn't have the average intimacy with Ron. She thought back, what seemed like ages ago, when Ron had said, "Let's make love, my beautiful future wife." They didn't though. They began bickering after Hermione had voiced her opinion as if Ron was implying that night was their last ever. And that night ended with both of them going to sleep furious with each other. A sad sigh escaped Hermione's mouth.

Draco sniggered, "I guess you never did then. But then again, who would want to do that to such an ugly red-head? Or _receive_ from an insufferable woman?"

Her hands were itching to slap him, but instead she spat, "I can ensure you, I did do everything and more than what you have done. And I can bet you anything he's is bigger than yours!"

Draco laughed then leaned close to her ear under the hood. "Don't sound so sure, Granger, until you've seen mine. I can guarantee you, mine is the biggest of them all. And I know your _dying_ to take a peek."

Hermione pushed him weakly away from her and began to fasten her pace, but he grabbed her wrist, pulling her into an alleyway. "Hold still, prude." Hermione felt a familiar feeling of being squeezed through a tube and the brightness of the alley was gone and now she was in a room.

And Merlin, she knew whose room was it right away, it had Slytherin written all over it. With its faint striped green wallpaper and wall frames of black, it was Draco's room. Five casement windows lined with black curtains, brought intense light into the room. A branched black chandelier hung to the ceiling hosting burning candles. A dark walnut four-poster king bed with roman pillars had black curtain flowing from it on each side.

But the most prominent feature of the room was the young lady, sitting with her legs folded to the side on his raven satin sheets. Her long blonde hair reached her waist and her celery-green eyes twinkled playfully against her pale skin. And she was poised sexily in her lace low halter dress with a garter belts attached to lace stocking. Through the lace, you could see _everything_.

Immediately Hermione turned away, once again left in complete embarrassment as she heard Draco muttered, "Go away for a bit. Library is down the hall to the left with large arch doors. Go."

The minute he said library, she knew he was talking to her and she didn't want to be somewhere where she was not wanted. She gladly walked out with a soft click.

Draco threw himself onto Astoria, kissing her heard and wasting no time, pressing his arousal against her. He whispered against her lips, "This will be our last time…" And he consumed her hungrily as the thought of Hermione echoed in the back of his head.

Hermione looked up at the mahogany arched door with a rich design and she grabbed the sliver snake handle and pushed it open. Hermione fell in love in an instant. The room was small and circular with two floors, towered with bookshelves that reach the ceiling on both floors. The bottom floor had a large bay window, reaching from the floor to the ceiling, leaving a ledge. In the middle of the first floor, vintage armchairs in black with sliver accents positioned in the middle and a desk off to the side. Hermione ran up the curled staircase, caressing the roman railing and stopped near the large casement window with a beautiful view of a garden. Hermione immediately grabbed a book titled, "Forbidden Forest's Bounty." She ran off downstairs with a squeal and threw herself excitedly into a chair. She looked up to a large gothic chandelier with smoke coming from the burnt out candles and with a wave of her wand, she ignited them. She opened to the first page, grinning. Merlin, did books have such a calming effect on her. She greedily inhaled the smell of the musty books and old parchment. She was in heaven!

Hermione read page after page and after page, soaking in the love pouring out of the book. About twenty minutes into the book, she pulled herself away from it, thinking of…_Malfoy_. Should she be really left alone in the Manor? No! Bloody no!, her head screamed. What if one of his parents waltzed in her to find her. She shivered at their reactions, she would definitely be killed on the spot. She placed the open book down on the arm of the chair and rushed out of the library to find herself in front of Draco's door to his room.

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows, hearing pleasurable moaning seeping through the cracks of the doors. Merlin, this man was like a machine, a disgusting, no moral machine. Should she knock? No. The awkwardness overpowered her concern. She turned on her heel, shaking off the discomfiture and found herself back in the library. Expect the library was not empty.

There sat Lucius Malfoy in an armchair, smirking evilly at her.

**A/N: =O I hope you liked this chapter. There's more drama to come. And as a friendly reminder, this is a MATURE story, so please respect the ratings HPFF has. **

**Oh, and I know Draco is a total jerk. Like I tend to read my own FF for editing purposes and even I'm like, Why is he such a jerk? Merlin, I hate him. But eventually you'll see him grow into a better person. **

**Anyway, please review, love bugs! XOXO **

I love you always


	8. It's Not a Game

**A/N: Hey, everyone ^_^ Thanks so much for R&R! It means so, so MUCH!**

Draco finished the last button on his shirt, refusing to take a peek at Astoria. This good-bye was bound to the hardest parting because Astoria held that unusual place in his heart. He felt her hands laid his and she whispered sadly, "What did you mean by the last time?"

He grabbed her hands, kissing her supple palms and removed himself from her completely. "Astoria, we're done here. Our relationship, whatever relationship we've had is over. It's only friendship from here on out."

Astoria furrowed her eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because I said so. Don't question me. You know how I feel about that." Draco turned to open the door and opened it and Astoria followed after him into the foyer. Now time to get Granger, he thought sourly.

"Draco," he heard her faintly whisper sweetly. "I won't give you up. No matter what."

Draco heaved a heavy sigh and began to walk to the library without a glance back, kicking Astoria out from his heart reluctantly. He walked with heavy feet to the library and saw from a distance, the door was open and as he became closer and closer, he heard a too familiar voice: His father's.

He knew Lucius was smirking. "Such a sad story, isn't? And that's the ending of a forbidden love between a centaur and a witch. I hope through this book, you can understand why certain _species_cannot be mixed and that is including purebloods and muggle-borns. Muggle-borns should not be able to mix with the wizarding world at all. And that is my conquest to suppress them, to annihilate them. And here you are, Queen of Muggle-borns who just so happened to waltz into my home."

Draco quickly enter, stepping in front of a still Hermione and his wand drawn at his own father who was sitting in an armchair, hands folded on his lap.

"What is this, Draco?" he hissed at his son.

"Please, do not threaten my fiancée," he growled.

Lucius jumped to his feet, his face bright red from his fury. "Fiancée!? I might as well kill you as her."

"Lucius!" Narcissa scolded shrilly. They all turned to face her and she continued, "Don't you ever threaten my son, Lucius. Everyone to the living room _now_."

Draco pushed Hermione against the wall as Lucius stormed past them with a glare and before taking her leave, Narcissa gave Hermione a fleeting cold stare.

Hermione immediately rounded on Draco, "I almost got killed because you were too busy being a pervert. What good you're to me when you allow me to wander the Manor on my own with your mad father about? And_your_rules are useless! You told me I cannot leave your side but yet you told me to go away! You are so—"

"Granger, shut the fuck up!" he drawled angrily. "And you don't have to worry about it, alright? Let's go downstairs and handle it instead of having me to listen to your insufferable complaining." He turned with a mutter, "Merlin, she makes me want to use the cruciatus cruse on myself."

Both found themselves in the living room as it was grand with a roman detailed fireplace with a crackling fire, eating the wood. The gray stone wall, kept the room slightly chilly, leaving an air of detachment. A gothic branched chandelier hung from the painted ceiling. And on the ceiling was the same black winged witch from the store against a stormy sky, but this time, lying on a curved snake with her arched back and she held up a perfect shaped emerald with her black stiletto nails curling around it. The picture sent chills down Hermione's back. Merlin, did she hate that witch, whoever it was. But nothing was worse than seeing Lucius and Narcissa posed elegantly on the vintage velvet emerald-green sofa with dark wood accents.

Hermione took a seat near the window, allowing the dying sunlight to give her its last warmth. She hated the manor, it was incredibly depressing, but one thing she was grateful for was the grand windows. Draco slid next to her and put his arm around her effortlessly as she shifted uncomfortably.

"You have a mudblood for your fiancée now, Draco?" said Lucius coldly.

"Yes, I do."

"And since when?"

"Right after Hogwarts," replied Draco irritably. "We've kept it a secret because of the prejudices, but now since you want to…_persecute_Muggle-borns, I need to protect the one _I love_."

"She can be protected in the dungeons!" Lucius snapped. 

"She will be with _me_!"

Lucius heavily sighed, glaring at Hermione. "Fine. Let her be your fiancée. I would suspect both of you to play your roles."

"It's not a game, father."

Lucius stood to his feet and shrugged halfheartedly. "So you say. Both of you are to sleep in the same room like a proper _couple_. And begin to plan your engagement party tomorrow and you shall be wed in three months' time."

_Wed in three months time_? Hermione wanted to bend over and vomit onto the lush green rug beneath her. Her head was spinning, out of control. In twenty-four hours, her life was out of her control and she could do nothing to stop the motion of everything taking place.

"Father—"

"It's not a game, Draco." Lucius threw Draco's words right back at him. "You propose for a reason, right? To get marry? 'Till death do you part." He smirked evilly.

Hermione knew Lucius was trying to get under Draco's skin, probing him to admit it was a lie and Draco didn't really consider any of this. But Draco stood steadfast and although she hated him, she appreciated him more than ever.

"'Till death do us part." And what Draco did next was out of pure impulse. He kissed Hermione hard, lashing his anger through a rough kiss and cupping her face with both his hands. The softness of her lips calmed him immediately, but he knew Hermione was uncomfortable and fidgety. She had her hands wrapped around his wrists as if preparing herself to push him off.

"Enough!" roared Lucius, pulling Hermione back by her hair as she yelped in pain.

Draco scrambled to his feet, drawing his wand on his father and as a response, Lucius released Hermione roughly, throwing her forward.

"Really on your own father, for a mudblood?"

"Please!" begged Narcissa shrilly.

"She's my fiancée. You will give her the respect of a Malfoy since she is to become one."

Lucius glared down at Hermione. "If she proves to deserve Malfoy's respect. Now, I will take my leave, I'll be back in two weeks. I have business to attend to. Draco. Narcissa." Black smoke consumed him and the window unbolted abruptly and as a tornado, he left the house with the window shutting behind him with a crash.

Narcissa cleared her throat as Hermione snapped her head to her and she spoke with authority, "I suggest you both follow Lucius' orders." She slightly cocked her head to the side, her eyes boring into Hermione's. "Especially you. Draco, I beg of you to please stop being promiscuous as that can hurt your story."

"It's not a story," whispered Hermione, massaging her head.

Narcissa cocked her eyebrow and Hermione laced her fingers through Draco's. Draco still at her touch, her hand felt warm and soft. With hesitation, he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it tenderly, sending a slight blush to her cheeks.

"Anyway, I will set an interview with The Prophet and Witch Weekly who both would be interested to know that the _sexiest_bachelor has a _future wife_."

When his mother said _sexiest_, his lips curled into his infamous smirk.

"And Miss Granger, tomorrow we will begin lessons on how to act like a lady and prepare you as Draco's future wife as a Malfoy." She glanced at Draco then looked at Hermione with her nose scrunched up. "And to tame that hair of yours. I shall call Evelyn to come in tomorrow. And soon enough you'll be as close as you possibly can to a Malfoy," she finished distastefully.

Draco couldn't face Hermione, knowing exactly well what she meant by "being a Malfoy." He cleared his throat and muttered to his fiancée, "Come." Both stood to their feet as Draco led Hermione back into his room. He shut the door softly behind him.

Hermione was livid, her eyes glaring daggers at him with her body shaking ever so slightly, itching to hex the Malfoy family into oblivion. She attempted to keep her voice steady. "You're parents see right through us even with your bloody stunt."

"Well, I suppose we would just need to convince them more," he snapped.

"And three months, Malfoy? Isn't that a bit rushed?" she cried shrilly, pulling on her hair, trying to control her feelings that were pouring and exploding out of her.

"Granger, what did you think when you came up with this plan?"

"I was obviously was not thinking!"

He sighed heavily, running his hands back against his hair.

"And to sleep in the same room together!"

Violently rolling his eyes, Draco said calmly, "Conjure up a mattress, for Merlin's sake."

"So once again I'm on the floor?"

"Yes, you belong beneath me!" He then smirked, "Maybe in that sense too."

She slapped him. Her hand left a stinging sensation on his cheek as he grazed it with his thumb in total shock, someone actually hit him. Never in his life! He turned to her, eyes flashing threateningly.

"I'm so sick of you already, Malfoy!" She didn't care if he looked like he wanted to hex her, jinx her or even curse her. He always acted like a total jerk with his comments of his claimed superiority and his snide remarks expressing his vulgarity. He was a barbaric animal. None of the sophistication in the house reflected him as a person. He deserved to live in a cave.

Hermione spun on her heel and walked through a door as Draco called, "Walk-in closet!" She came out, glaring at him as he pointed at another door, suppressing a snigger, all his anger swept away by her stupidity. Hermione then slammed the bathroom door close, hearing a loud burst of laughter outside.

_Malfoy laughs?_ She couldn't suppress her smile at his laughter ringing in her ears and turned on the water of the exaggerated shower, with the wall with gray cobble stone and the counter of black marble and almost everything lined dark walnut wood accents. And by Merlin, was that a shower from the heavens, spitting water at her from every direction. She pressed another button and soap of bubbles rushed out. She squealed in delight.

Draco cocked an eyebrow as he heard a loud squeak and smirked slightly to himself, knowing all too well, she was probably in bliss right now because of his shower. He headed toward his loveseat and before taking a seat, he pulled out two wand and set them on the coffee table. How is she suppose to conjure up something to wear? He shook his head slightly with a smirk. Brightest witch of our age? He sniggered to himself.

Relaxing, Draco leaned his head back and closed his eyes, sighing heavily.

_So father didn't kill her or me… I guess this is as smooth as its going to get. But they would definitely will be watching us. And I knew that… It's sad, having to end it with all the women. I'm so young, I still want to have fun. I wonder if Granger would have fun with me, considering technically I'm going to be her husband_.

He opened one eye to take a peek at the bathroom then closed it, sighing heavily again.

_Becoming a Malfoy… That part will probably be the hardest for her. I won't worry about it right now…_

He listened at the beating shower faintly humming in the background, a soothing sound and the imagination of the water hitting against his back, left him feeling calmingly drowsy until his thoughts disappeared and everything went black.

Hermione peeked out of the door of the bathroom after what it seemed for hours, pulling down the white fluffy towel. She felt immediately grateful, seeing Draco with his head leaned back, slouching on the loveseat with his eyes closed and his mouth slightly opened, heavily breathing. Her wand was not hard to notice in the distance resting next to Draco's wand on the coffee table. She begin tip-toeing, but stumbled on Draco's feet and felt an arm wrap around her waist, holding her midair. Her cheek became hot with mortification as Draco's eyes grazed the back of her thighs. He pushed Hermione to her feet gently and moved away from her into his closet.

She heard him, "You're not wearing those _things_ tonight." Draco came back out with one of his plain v-neck shirt, a loose hoodie and striped pyjama pants, holding the stack of folded clothes out. Hermione quickly snatched it from him as if she was going to get bitten by him and he rolled his eyes.

When she finally came out, she was dressed in Draco's clothes, pulling down at his hoodie as he smirked, "You could never look better in those than me." He moved past her into the bathroom. As Draco was showering, Hermione transfigured the love seat into a mattress and threw herself on it, sinking into its comfort with a quilt wrapped tightly around her. The shower water still burned her skin, sending a tingling warmth throughout her body as she drifted to sleep, with the lights shining dimly.

In the distance, there was a groan, full of fear. After the groan, there was a shuffling against the sheets and a low whimper, "No. No." The voice choked with a plea for help, unsteady and childlike. Hermione fluttered her eyes open, squinting hard in the darkness as objects and surroundings eventually came into focus, becoming clear as it can at night. There. Another whimper. She peeked over, stretching to find a Draco with a face twisted in terror and his arms flailing.

She reached for his hand, lacing her fingers threw his and signing softly, "Oh, come and stir my cauldron, and if you do it right, I'll boil you up some hot, strong love, to keep you warm tonight." And continued the lyrics to her favorite song, "A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love" so familiar that its lyrics burned into her mind. Her other hand stroked the hand, singing the song on replay and rested her head on the edge of his bed. The fidgeting stop as the whimper became less and less till it was no more.

_He heard the soft, sweet voice filling his ears, echoing in the darkness and as the singing became loud and clearer, the singing was able to bring light, piercing through the darkness. He stepped forward, stumbling under an unusual amount of weight. He turned to look behind him, finding huge black wings. Panic rose in him, but the voice, the singing, beautiful voice was calling for him. He spread his wings, it span large with its black feathers dancing in the calm breeze. His wings flapped and flapped, but he was not moving. The light was moving toward him and a body was coming through the light, her hips swaying lightly. And then, the light severely blinded him_.


	9. Malfoys

**A/N: Okay, so got some reviews. Yes, Hermione is a virgin. Draco **_**was **_**a man-whore. If you feel weird/creepy about it, you can drop it. I won't feel offend. Some people are picky about certain things when reading a fic, I am too like a "nice" Draco and have dropped fics because of that. So, if you are concerned about Draco about being a jerk, yes he is one because that is the way his personality is the canon. And no, I don't try to "protect" Hermione innocence, this is a Mature fic for a reason. **

**Other than that, please review =)**

There. That witch again. What's the obsession with her?

Hermione's eyes grazed the ceiling of the dining room, analyzing every detail of the gothic painting. The witch was holding herself on an ivory roman pillar, her back facing a man and her head slightly looking back at him. Her black wings draped inanimately with the tips going white. The man was a warrior, holding out one hand to her and the other resting on the pocketed sword.

"Are you ready?"

Hermione turned to Narcissa who beckoned her to follow her. The kitchen was magnificent and bright, much to her surprise since everything else was gloomy and dark in the house. On the white-gray marble counter tops, there were bowls and baking ingredients set up neatly.

"As a wife you need to learn to cook and bake and know my son's favorites. Today is tiramisu. _From scratch._"

Hermione with no response, cracking eggs into a bowl and added sugar, whisking away.

"Girl knows how to bake?" Narcissa whispered bitterly. "Very well then. Let's have a try once you're done." She was at the door and turned her head slightly, whispering icy, "If not done right there will be serious… _consequences_."

Hermione rolled her eyes as she left, continuing to follow the instructions that were imprinted in her mind. After about five minutes, she began on the frosting until it was of decent consistency. Then she still, feeling a presence behind her, he leaned over her, dipping the pale finger in the icing. She looked up to come face to face with Draco's smug face, licking the icing off his finger.

"Morning."

"Good morning," Hermione muttered, eyes casted downward at the bowl.

"It's actually really good."

"Is that a compliment I'm hearing?" She tried to suppress the smile on her lips.

"For a mudblood."

She put the whisk down and rolled her eyes. "What does that even have to do with baking?"

He shrugged. "Still a mudblood."

"Why is the _only _insult you can come up with? After a day and an half with you, I don't even get offended anymore."

He grabbed her hand and dipped her fingers into the bowl, scooping the icing up and into his mouth teasingly. Hermione flushed hard as he smirked, sucking the icing tenderly off her fingers. After the icing was all gone, he slid onto the counter.

"You know, Granger, what's more satisfying than insulting you? Teasing you."

She waved her wand to remove the piece of icing their fingers had dipped into and whisked away again. Draco snatched up an apple in a bowl nearby, taking a bite of it greedily. And Hermione decided to take a good look at him, something she has been avoiding to do. She noticed all his features and flawless contours, but one thing she was not prepared for was the jet black skull with a snake slithering out of its mouth on his forearm. She dropped the whisk in shock, her eyes unwavering.

Draco followed her gaze and the minute he looked at his dark mark, he grabbed her hand and made all her fingers touch the mark. She shivered violently as if the skull will clamp its teeth down on her fingers. He jerked her and her eyes lifted to his, their faces close, only a few inches away.

"I was waiting for you to notice it… Think I'm a bloody beast?" he growled huskily.

Hermione shook her head slightly, holding her breath.

He released her, drawing back. "You think it's easy? I wanted to join the ranks of the Deatheaters under the Dark Lord. Then I saw what it was really like and I regret it so much. But I had to stay in. Even after his downfall, it wasn't easy. I couldn't even get a _job_, so I had no choice but to run my father's business, dealing with the same dodgy people." His voice began to become unsteady with anger. "And look at me, I'm here again. Dealing with the same BULLSHIT! A fucking Deatheater again!" he roared as Hermione shielded her face with her hands. He gave a humorless chuckle. "You see you think I'm a beast."

Draco slid off the counter, taking a bite from his apple heatedly. But before he could walk away, Hermione grabbed his forearm, making him turn toward her.

She traced her fingers lightly on the mark, her whisper soft, "Don't let this mark define you. You're not a…beast. You're a person who lived right in the middle of hell. But you need to find your redemption and rise through the fire and darkness into the light."

He stilled at her words… _light_, he was recalling his dream. That woman was his redemption, was she? Is that woman… Draco pulled himself away from her roughly, leaving her, sighing heavily.

Hermione turned back to her baking, focusing unnecessarily hard to keep her thoughts at bay. After thirty-five minutes she served three pieces, balancing them out the door into the dining room. Narcissa was sitting on the side as Draco took the end table seat, standing tall as if he ruled. She confidently set a plate in front of both of them and took her seat next to Draco. The cake in front of her was neglected as Hermione watched Narcissa gracefully take one bite, her face emotionless. In one motion, Narcissa nodded, setting her fork down and wiped her mouth, taking her leave.

Hermione slumped back in her chair, furrowing her eyebrows. "I don't understand."

"You think she'll compliment you?" laughed Draco with a chill.

"No, I guess not."

Draco felt an uncomfortable feeling settling at the pit of his stomach when he saw the frown etched on Hermione's face. "Well, it's not too bad."

"Not too bad?" There was a bright twinkle in her eye.

"It's good."

Hermione heaved a sigh of relief. "I'm glad. And you seem like a picky eater."

"Do not insult me, Granger."

"Not insulting you, _Malfoy_. Just an observation."

"Where you learn how to do this anyway?" he asked, picking at the cake slowly before taking a small bite, savoring it sweet taste.

"Mrs. Weasley."

His face fell in disgust and as it looked like he was going to spit the cake out of his mouth, Hermione slapped both of hands over his mouth, startling him. "Don't you dare…," she warned threateningly.

He put both hands in the air, surrendering. He then continued to take another bite, encouraged by her small smile. "I can't believe I'm eating a blood-traitor's recipe."

"Food is food," she snapped annoyed. "If you're so picky about it have the house elves do it for you instead!"

"No. My mother cooks once a week to upkeep her duties as a wife and you're expect to do the same. And I could care less what you do, but my mother does."

"I rather not play wife for you."

Draco stabbed half of the cake with the fork, sending a quake through the table and a slam echoing in the dining hall. "Granger, _you_ chose this. Remember that."

Hermione ran her fingers through her hair. "I know! Must I be reminded of it all the time?"

He snorted, "Yes. I'm stuck with you. It's no flying in clear skies. Weasel got out of this one, lucky him."

She stood abruptly to her feet, glaring at him. "I'll have you know, I was an amazing woman to him!"

"Dunno about that, Granger," he sniggered. "All you seem to be doing is causing your _future_ husband trouble. Now I pity the Weasel more."

"I'll show you!"

He cocked an eyebrow at her, questioningly and as he was going to tease her, he was cut off by a squeaky voice, "Young Master Malfoy!" Both looked down to see a young female house elf. An envelope was in her shaking hand and he snatched from her which in turn Hermione wrenched it from his hand.

"Take it from her nicely!"

"It, Granger, _it_." He noticed her shaking in fury, turning a crimson of rage. "Okay, okay. Her. Next time I will. So please, just hand me the bloody letter." He held out his palm and Hermione slapped the enveloped letter into his palm. He quickly open it, reading it, his face fell. Shit, he thought.

"I need to go, Granger. I'll be back later."

He rushed out as Hermione called after him, "Wait! Ugh, nevermind." She looked down at the elf, smiling weakly.

A few passing minutes later, the dining room burst opened with Evelyn, giving Hermione a look so similar to what Professor Snape used to give Harry, filled with distaste and roaring with hate.

"You?" she laughed hollowly. "Are you—? NO! It can't be!"

"As unfortunate as it is, it is the truth," said Narcissa bitterly from behind Evelyn.

"A mudblood?"

"Yes, a mudblood," spat Hermione.

Evelyn cocked an eyebrow, sweeping towards her. "Girl got tongue?" She grabbed Hermione by the jaw. "Maybe it should be _cut_."

"Enough!" warned Narcissa. "You are not here to torture the girl. Just…_fix _her." And she left once again.

With a wave of her wand, Evelyn forcibly pushed Hermione into a chair and conjured essential tools. She roughly began pulling on Hermione's hair as she squeezed her eye shut from the pain.

_Merlin, this woman must have been married to Voldemort, evil witch!_ she screamed in her head.

"What I'm doing right now, should last you about a year. Although it shouldn't make much of a difference, you'll be hideous anyway."

Hermione clenched her fist, digging her nails into her palms and exposing her forearms slightly. It was an attempt to distract her from the screams of pain from her scalp.

"Ah, I see. Not a Deatheater, are you?" When Hermione didn't answer, Evelyn continued, "Surely, you'll become one. It would be a shame if the Prince's fiancée didn't join her _future husband _into dark nobility."

No, no NO! roared Hermione in her head. She would never joined the Deatheaters, she would rather die than become dark.

Evelyn pulled roughly on her hair as Hermione suppressed the yelp of pain. "Oh, and you haven't been marked as a Malfoy yet, huh?"

"What do you mean?" gritted Hermione through her teeth.

She felt claw-like nails grazing her neck and a low whisper, "Oh nothing, _darling_. After some time, Evelyn hissed, "I don't believe that you two are actually in love, you know."

"I could care less what you think," replied Hermione bitterly.

"You know this whole time while he was with you, how many women were in his bed?"

"_And_ that's why I was his only girlfriend and now _fiancée_. I'm okay with an open-relationship _while_ you _other_ women tend to be possessive of him. You don't and will never understand him. I do. That's why you were just a mistress and you're not sitting here with this on your finger." Hermione flashed her ring and knowing well she had struck a nerve when Evelyn gave a rough tug on Hermione's hair. Hermione didn't care, she felt super satisfied for annoying Evelyn.

And with one last tug on Hermione's hair, exclaimed sourly, "I am done!"

"So quickly?" Hermione rubbed her scalp to feel soft hair.

"Forgot that you live in a magical world, mudblood?"

Evelyn passed her a mirror and Hermione had to try with all her control not to drop the mirror. Her hair was in soft waves, silky, past her breasts and her golden-brown hair could never be so shiny and full, every frizz tamed.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Evelyn cleared her throat with discomfort at Hermione's appreciation. "There is an outfit set for you every day for the rest of the month. It should appear on your vanity."

Hermione went to turn to look at Evelyn, but she was gone. Instead there was a cat strolling out with its tail high in the air. With a sigh, she rested her head on the table. All alone now… Surely she would avoid everyone and without Malfoy, it would be lonely and…peaceful.

"I almost couldn't recognize you."

The voice was new, but yet familiar as she heard it several times over the last day.

"Zabini," she muttered.

"Granger… Where's Draco?"

Hermione gave a halfhearted shrug. "I don't know."

"So what made the Golden Girl fall in love with a Deatheater?" She warily watched him take a seat opposite of her.

"Why is really any of your business?"

"He's my best mate in case you didn't know. And I find it hard to believe so suddenly he's engaged to _you_."

Hermione sat up properly, her eyes boring into his. "It's not suddenly just because you didn't know about it."

"You know how many women he slept with while he was with _you_? And not to mention you're a mudblood."

"Yes. I know, Zabini, I was told this before. Malfoy is a bit wild… But our relationship was really open…" Hermione furrowed her eyebrows more and more as the lies came rushing out. "And _love_ know no boundaries."

Blaise burst into laughter, holding his stomach. "Really sweet!" He leaned forward with a smirk so similar to Draco's. "I'm calling bullshit on all of this. But let's see how far _love_ goes when you become a lady Deatheater."

Hermione's lips pressed into a thin line, wanting to protest loudly, but instead pointed out, "Why is there such an expectation for me to be a Deatheater when Mrs. Malfoy isn't one…"

He cocked his eyebrow and let out hallow chuckle. "Either way, you're going to get branded. You are going to be made a Malfoy. I don't think you'll like that either."

Hermione groaned in frustration. "What does that even mean?"

"No one's told you?"

"No!"

A smirk played on his lips. "Well, I don't think I should be the one to tell you."

"Well, can you answer at least one question?" asked Hermione irritated.

Blaise snorted, "You're the brightest witch of our age. Answer it yourself."

She slammed her hands on the table. "Zabini!"

"Alright! Alright! What?"

"The witch." Hermione pointed to the ceiling. "Who is she? I saw a picture of her in Black Cat's Den. One in the living room. Then, here she is again."

Blaise's eyes swept over the ceiling, analyzing every detail. "Her name is Despina. She's the oldest female ancestor of the Malfoy. The pictures paint a prophecy. Uh… the picture you saw in Black Cat defined her power. The one in the dining room shows her riches. The one here tell more of the story… She's a pureblood witch that fell in love with a warrior with no magical blood at all. And I'm guessing you haven't seen the one in the ball room?"

Hermione shook her head.

"You'll see it eventually. But that one shows her on her wedding day to the warrior, Hero. She's completely white by then."

"There's a Malfoy who fell in love with a muggle?"

"Just a prophecy, Granger. Never happened."

"So they live happily ever after?"

He snorted, "No. There's a picture somewhere that shows them after they were married. He killed her when he found out she was a witch."

"Oh…" After some time gazing at the ceiling, Hermione whispered. "Where's that one?"

"Hasn't been found yet."

"It's not in the Manor?"

"No."

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows, staring at Blaise. "So why was one in the Black Cat's Den…? Is Evelyn a—"

"No, she isn't a Malfoy. And the Malfoys use to own that place long before Diagon Alley came along. The space was no longer could be a home, they sold it off as a shop. The painting is enchanted so no one could paint over it. Now, it's stuck. When Evelyn came along, she liked it. So…yeah," Blaise finished awkwardly.

"Is there something I can read on the Malfoy history?"

Blaise laughed, a genuine laugh filled with amusement that surprised Hermione. "Same old, Granger, huh?"

She grinned, "I suppose."

He slightly smiled at her. "One's thing change though."

"And what is that?"

Motioning at her, he smirked, "All this. You look different. No more bushy hair. You're actually really cute…" He flushed lightly. "For a mudblood," he mumbled.

"Yeah. A mudblood," she said rolling her eyes. "So, is there a book or something?"

Blaise looked her up and down, nodding. "Come on." He walked to her side of the table, holding out his hand. Hermione took it and he lead her away, to the library and keeping her occupied.

"So a Malfoy literally _never ever_ marry a muggle?" asked Hermione, looking at one record of the Malfoys. Other records of parchments, books and journals sprawled messily one chairs and the table in the library.

"No, why would that even surprise you?" snorted Blaise into a book. "It says here that the Malfoy family arrived in Britain in 1479 and built this Manor… Oh and they came from Italy!"

"That seems reasonable…" Hermione said more to herself. "With the type of paintings and architecture that are around here."

"It says here that Elvira Malfoy married Damien Wreather… He was chaser for the Bulgaria team in 1857!"

"Oh."

He reminisced, "I loved playing Chaser. I really do miss it."

Hermione looked at Blaise. "It was okay. But I always thought the best matches were between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Those were the only matches I was really interested in."

"I have to admit, those _were_ the best matches. Gryffindor always gave us a challenge."

"And we always won!" Hermione gave Blaise a small teasing smile.

"So, how come you never join the team? With your friends and all being on the team," he smirked.

"I don't know how to fly," she frowned.

"You don't? I guess I found something the Golden Girl can't do!"

"Oh! Stop it!" She rolled her eyes, casting them onto the records again.

"I can teach you if you like?" A smile played upon his lips.

"Uh…okay. Sure."

"Alright. Well, I'm taking my leave. See you another day?"

She nodded.

"Have a good night."

"Good night…" she whispered.

And he left with a soft click, sending relief over her. Hermione continued to study Malfoy history for hours and hours. When she was done, gathered the books scattered around the armchairs and loveseats, slowly placing them in their right spot. Her mind slowly wandered to Malfoy and how his "be back later" is extending way past the usual meaning.

_Maybe he left for his room early_…she thought.

She stack the dirty plates from dinner on the table, yawning and deciding one of the house-elves will clean it up. She'll make it up to whichever house-elf cleaned up after her. She left to the room, to find no Malfoy. It was empty…

And that how it was for the next week. Unbearably empty. No Malfoy. No Zabini. Just her and Narcissa in the chilly Manor, a storm riding on their shoulders. An eerie air thick and suffocating them both. Narcissa showed more and more dark bags under her eyes from those sleepless nights when she refused to sleep because of the overwhelming concern for her son. Even Hermione had trouble sleeping, waking up at every little creak, hoping it was Draco's footsteps. She may had not like Draco, but wherever he was, she hoped he was not fatally hurt or hurt at all. Every corner Hermione turned, she prayed to bump into him and see his smirk. Hell, she would ever be okay with hearing his voice call "mudblood." It was becoming nerving.

Terrible thoughts stormed her head. What if Malfoy killed his own son because of her? It would all her fault. She'll be responsible for his death. Merlin, as much as she couldn't stand him, she never wanted to put him into danger. He helped her and this is how she paid him back? Guilt filled her veins, pounded her heart and drowned her body completely.

And there was no comfort. Those days, there were no letters from him or from what she could see, Lucius Malfoy either. The only thing she could do was lose her mind in something else. Books and books, stretching her mind. Cooking dish after dish, up to ten a day, sharing them with the house-elves who adored her more and more every day.

And sometimes, she'll stare out the window, hoping he would show…

"Here, you are Cherry." Hermione passed a plate of brandied pepper steak with roasted potatoes to the little, young house-elf. Her ears were not as large as others, but still maintained their usual bat-like appearance. Her big eyes' iris painted dark like black-cherries.

"Not eating, Misses?" she squeaked.

Hermione smiled halfheartedly and shook her head lightly. "I'm not really hungry."

"But misses! You have not eaten at all today."

"I know. I just lost my appetite for today. I hope you enjoy. I'm heading up to the library…"

Hermione sulked out of the kitchen, the dining room and into the living room, where she stopped dead in her tracks. There was a tiger, heaving up and down, breathing hard. Crimson blood stains splashed against its white fur and the blonde stripes barely visible. It rose its stormy eyes to bore into Hermione's. She drew her wand, aiming at the beast, but it moved quickly. It pinned her on the ground, baring its teeth, blood dripping on her face and digging its claws into her skin.

And her wand was now out of her reach.

She was going to be killed by Lucius Malfoy.


	10. Realization of Attraction

**A/N: Okay, SO most of the reviews I am getting readers are complaining and some of you might think I'm becoming B****, BUT IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT DROP IT! I don't give a flying f***. And ****guest**** who said, "here's something, she can accio the ring and leave. This is ridiculous, she's not forced to be there" WELL HERE'S SOMETHING TOO MAYBE IF YOU READ CAREFULLY, "****Her body was shaking violently as he knees began to grow weak, but she held onto dear life on the sill.**_**Her wand…**_**She turned to see Draco pocketing it and he shook his head" I can read, can you? Because what I read there seemed like Hermione knows she is a capable witch and went to get her wand. =O oh, my! That explains it! If you don't like it then go ahead drop it. I have this story another fic site and it is successful there. So, I don't NEED your constant b****ing ;) **

**There were many stories I personally didn't like and dropped it and kept it moving instead of complaining and whining. I started to write to do the stories the way **_**I**_** wanted to do it. You people must be miserable. If you like it read it, if you don't, don't read. I won't feel offend by you dropping it, BUT I do get upset when you don't read it and it seems like you read selectively then complain. Your reviews aren't constructive in anyway. Details of the scenery. Characterization. Grammar. That's constructive, not your petty complaining. So, good day to you =)**

Draco's vision was a blur, his mind fuzzy and his body crushed under an overwhelming amount of pressure. He felt…wet? Remember, remember what happened. Disarmed the wizard of his wand. Then he… What did he do? He fought the muggle way. That's right. He pulled out a knife and started slashing around… Where was his father…? He wasn't there. He left Draco for dead.

His vision was spinning, around and around. Hermione, he thought. Then, she came into focus. Merlin, he was bleeding on her. Shit, did he fucking attack her? The pressure lifted and he couldn't help himself weakening, his body falling and falling and changing. His focusing vision became blurry again until everything went dark.

The light was stinging his eyelids with the colors of burnt oranges and light yellows. He softly groaned, squeezing his eyes and feeling the pain shoot through him.

"Malfoy…"

There that sweet voice. His eyes fluttered open to see her face. "Granger," he croaked. "Don't you look different?"

She heaved a huge sigh of relief. "Thank Merlin! I…"

"I'm alright." His eyes quickly glanced his bare upper body, wrapped in bandages that were stained with blood. He was in his room… Did she? He shifted slightly to an upright position with pain shooting through him. "Who bandaged me?"

"I did, but we should get you to a Healer."

"NO!"

"Malfoy, drop your pride. I have to—"

His face contorted in fury. "Dammnit, Granger, I SAID NO!" His voice startled her and he felt guilty for always frightening her. "Thank you… though. You did a good enough job. Just sit and relax…"

Hermione fell back into her chair, burying her face in her hands and supporting her weight with her elbows on her knees. "I was so worried about you. And you told me 'see you later' and later turned into a week and you didn't letter. Nothing!" She unburied her face, giving him a piercing glare. "What the bloody hell, Malfoy?!"

A tiny smirk played on his lips. "Worried about me, eh?"

She rolled her eyes violently. "Of course I was! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Thought you hate me."

"Hate is such a _strong_ word," she smiled halfheartedly.

The full smirk was stretched across his lips.

"I thought you were your father…"

The smirk faltered. "Why?"

"I thought if you were an animagus, you'll be a ferret. So when I saw the tiger, and Merlin, I swear it felt like you were going to kill me, I assume it was your dad…" Hermione said lowly.

"Just because that bastard Moody—"

"Don't you ever speak about him like that!" cried Hermione shrilly.

"Okay," he said bitterly, narrowing his eyes. "Just because the _bastard_" at which Hermione rolled her eyes disgustingly, "transfigured me into a ferret, didn't mean that's what I represented, okay?" He leaned forward, but the pain was sharp, causing him to groan.

Hermione instantly rushed to his side, placing her hand on his shoulder, rubbing it gently. He felt where warmth burned him tenderly. "Malfoy, relax, please." He gave her a light nod, looking up at her and for some reason, he couldn't peel his eyes away. She fluffed his pillows as she asked, "What happened to you…?"

He heaved a heavy sigh. "Ran into some trouble with a resistance against Deatheaters."

"Oh," Hermione said a little too hopeful.

Draco immediately picked up her tone, questions arising in his mind. _Is she only with me to spy on Deatheaters? _He cleared his throat. "Anyway, disarmed him and he slash me with a knife. My fucking own father left me, there bleeding."

Hermione was shock and could not even recognize the quick tears seeping through into her eyes. "I… How could he even do that to you?" Her voice was become unsteadily higher. "You're his son! For him to leave you there! What if you didn't make out of there alive? Oh, Malfoy!" She leaned forward to hug him, but she was reminded that they weren't really friends and straighten herself up.

Draco noticed. He wasn't stupid. And he couldn't help himself, but to want to hug her, hold her and feel her warmth. She was worried for him. Something no one was ever for him, expect of course, his mother.

She cleared her throat lightly to clear the awkwardness filling inside her. She whispered lowly, "How did you get back here?"

Draco loosened his tight jaw and flexed his muscle a little bit even if he sensed a little jolt of pain. And he knew Hermione noticed his body and arms as he suppressed a smirk. "I stunned him and I disapparated outside the Manor. But the entrance is long so I just changed and it was quicker to get inside—"

"Malfoy, why didn't you just apparate straight into the Manor!?"

Draco slightly rolled his eyes. "_Granger_, I'll have you know that I wasn't going to leave you and my mother unprotected. What do you take me for, a moron? Before I left, I put enchantments and charms around the Manor _including_ an anti-apparation charm. And I'm going to keep them. Things are getting nasty out there."

"It's like another war…" she whispered.

"Yes, just like another war," he agreed firmly.

They both stared into each other's eyes, exploring each other's thoughts silently. Both did not want any of this and now they only had each other, it seemed.

"What did you do while I was gone?" asked Draco awkwardly, staring down at his bandages.

"Library. Cook… Did…um…was Zabini with you?"

Draco's eyes shot up to Hermione, his eyes narrowing accusingly. "Why the _fuck_ you care about Zabini?"

"I…Malfoy, it's just a question…"

"No, he wasn't," he snapped.

"Oh…" After some passing time, Hermione pressed on, "Do you know where he was?"

Draco cocked an eyebrow questioningly at her. "He was doing some petty work with other low-ranking Deatheaters if you must know. What is he any of your concern anyway?"

"I was uh…" _Why I am stumbling all over my words?_ thought Hermione. "Worried for him too." A threat flashed in Draco's eyes. "He came over the day you left and we spoke and you know…uh…we sorta got along."

"Oh, did you now?"

Heat from the anger was stinging his body as rage filled his veins. Draco and Blaise always shared women, considering most of the women they fooled around with were easy. Draco and Blaise were suave and sexy, seducing women easily. And whoever Draco had, Blaise eventually had and vice versa. One thing Draco refused to share was Hermione. And Merlin, did he found her insufferable and the dislike grew every time he was around her, but the ring on her finger meant she was his. Not to mention, if she fooled around with Blaise and they were found out, Draco and Hermione will be blasted off the face of the Earth.

"Yeah…I guess we sort of did get along… And he said he would visit me again and he didn't show. So I was worried and—"

"Shut up, Granger!" growled Draco. Even if Draco was bandage, his strength was all the same when he seized her wrist and pulled her forward. "You make a terrible fiancée. You shouldn't worry about other men." He' released her and she backed away quickly. "I'm hungry."

"I'll go get something for—"

"CHERRY!" he bellowed.

With a faint pop, Cherry appeared, bowing so low her nose touched the floor. "Young Master Malfoy." She straightened up with her hands folded in front of her.

"Get me—"

"_Please_," stressed Hermione.

"May you please bring me some food?" Draco shot her an are-you-happy-now look.

"Cherry, could you please just heat up the leftovers from earlier today if you would kindly?"

"Of course, misses!" squeaked the elf happily and with another faint pop, left.

"I can't even understand why you _need_ to be so kind to them. They're elves. They love doing that shit."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You sound like Ron."

"Don't," he warned.

"Can I ask you something?" she added quickly.

"Hm?"

"Everyone is talking about me becoming a Deatheater and—"

"Granger, let's not have this conversion right now."

"Well, _Malfoy_, I think we should!"

"_Well, Granger_, you need to do what you need to do to survive, right? So, naturally in order for you to survive under this roof is to get a Dark Mark and pretend to be dark and evil, you do it."

"I WILL NOT!" she cried shrilly.

"TWO LIVES ON YOUR SHOULDER, GRANGER!" The stare down between them intensified with each passing second until Draco spoke. "Wouldn't becoming a Deatheater be easier for you to spy?"

A heavy sigh left Hermione's lips. "I already told you I wasn't going to do that," she lied convincingly.

The faint pop meant Cherry was back again with a plate of food, holding it out.

"Granger, fed me."

"Excuse me?"

A smirk played on his lips. "Listen I have been badly injured. My arms…OUCH! Ouch! Merlin, does it hurt." He squeezed his eyes shut, his face contouring in agony and going through the motions of pain.

Hermione shot him a nasty look, taking the plate from Cherry and bid Cherry a thank you. She slid onto the edge of the bed and said crossly, "Merlin, you haven't changed a bit. Drama King," she muttered under her breath.

He opened his mouth smugly. She began to feed him and with every bite, he smirked.

After a swallow, he teased, "You wouldn't make a bad one."

"A bad what?" she asked frustrated.

"You know."

"A wife?"

The smirk grew wider and smugger. "No, a servant."

Hermione rolled her eyes and decided to jam as much food as she could into his mouth. His cheeks were stuffed and bulging out. Hermione snapped her head away from him, her laughter seeping through her lips that she was trying so hard to suppress.

He chewed like a llama when she finally burst out laughing, "You're so unflattering! I wish all the ladies could see this!"

Once he swallowed hard, he hissed, "Think it's funny, Granger?"

"No it isn't." When she saw his satisfied face, she gave him her own smirk. "It's hilarious!" Then burst into fits of laughter.

Draco grabbed her wrist, the one with the hand that held the fork and food, eating it off it. His abrupt actions always shocked her. He swallowed his bite again with a smirk forming again and he reach out for her hair, playing with it gently. Hermione flushed unwillingly, knowing all too well this will only add to his arrogance.

"You know, Granger?" he whispered seductively. "You should let me take a bite of you."

She pulled herself away from him and handed an arrived Cherry the plate with a mumble of thanks. "_You_ should go to sleep." She pulled on the pillows and tugged on him hard where he fell into a laying position; he yelped in pain as a response.

"The _fuck_, Granger!" Draco felt a drink forcibly flowing like a river down his throat and he coughed. "What did you—"

"Good night, _darling_."

And as quickly as he was going to open his mouth to retort, sleep knocked him out cold.

Merlin, not again. What time is it? Hermione moaned lightly, awakening from her slumber and fumbling for her watch. She squinted at it. For Merlin's sake, it's three in the morning! The whimper grew louder as Hermione inched to the head of Draco's bed, lightly grabbing ahold of his hand. She brought it up to her lips and kissed it ever so gently. She began singing the lyrics to, "No need for a Love Potion," so lowly and sweetly, serenading him, "I can fall in love with you all on my own, My love for you is always known, My heart shows those dearest emotions, Without needing a Love Potion." She continued on singing as she leaned forward to push back the hair on his face tenderly. His whimpers disappearing, drowning into the night.

His pale face was beautiful in the moonlight as his blonde eyelashes shined and she couldn't help herself, but to soak in the handsome young man. She brought his hand to her face, opening it to cup her face. She kissed his palm and when he stop the whimpering, the realization of what she was doing dawned on her. She let his hand dropped softly and escaped back into bed, facing away from him.

Where did the warmth go? Draco's eyes fluttered opened, puzzled. In his nightmare, it was cold, icy cold. He was in an icy mountain cave, on the floor. The pain was agonizing him still like the cruciatus curse was on endless replay. Then he felt a body holding him and the body's tender warmth cloaking him and just like that the pain went away.

He took a peek at Hermione, resting on the mattress on the floor, sleeping soundly. The only time he didn't experience those horrid nightmares was the day he slept with Hermione. And he wondered… No, he couldn't. She won't. No. He began fidgeting because he was itching to crawl into her bed. _Dammit Draco_, he thought, scolding himself. _Get ahold of yourself! _

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to push Hermione out of his head, but he couldn't. She was in his dreams.

"Granger…Granger…" the whispered echoed. "Granger!" It was becoming unsteadily louder which caused her to groan with sleepiness. "Oy, Granger!"

She flipped over in her bed, glaring at Draco. "What is it?" she hissed.

"It's ten already. Get up! I need help. Bring me to the bathroom."

Hermione's eyes widened in shock and she quickly jumped her feet. It was not hard to notice the black silk gown that stopped short on her thighs. As she leaned forward, he could see the curves of her breasts down her shirt and immediately looked away. Instead he focused on climbing out of bed. One arm was wrapped around her neck as the other clutched his side and her arm was draped lightly around his waist, her warmth burning pleasantly into his. Once in the bathroom, he held himself up on the counter, but his arms were shaking and giving way. Hermione conjured a chair and he collapsed into it.

"I think now is a good time to get you to a Healer."

"I'm doing better," he said firmly.

"And who is going to shower you? You barely can walk or lift yourself up. You have gashes on your chest, your arm and your leg. There's this draught you can bathe in, but someone is going to have to be here to help you," explained Hermione.

"Well, I guess it will be you then." As Hermione opened her mouth to protest, he cut her off quickly. "Granger, give me a break in the name of Merlin's bread. You've seen naked men before? Yes? Alright, then. The only difference is that you get to see the sexiest man ever naked."

Hermione rolled her eyes, but a small smile crept onto her lips. "I wish they would have gashed the mouth of yours." Hermione turned away and gave him a toothbrush.

Before shoving the brush into his mouth, Draco smirked, "I know you don't mean that."

Afterwards, Hermione leaned into the mirror on her tippy toes, flashing her teeth. Her gown lifted a little and Draco could not help, but to stare. _She's a mudblood,_ he thought distastefully. But his mind was playing devil's advocate. _But a woman is a woman…and she is a woman…_

"Okay, ready?" With a wave of the wand, water rushed quickly into the tub, filling it. Hermione grabbed a bottle off the counter, dumping its contents into the water and as a reaction, the water was steaming from the draught. When she turned, Draco was already naked, hoisting himself up and she could see his body trembling. She tried to keep her eyes steady on his face, but her eyes sometimes were pulled downward to the v-line muscle and other inappropriate place where she felt like she was cheating just by looking.

"Okay," she whispered. "Come on now. Hurry up." She quickly helped him in tub and he sank low with a satisfied smirk, but it soon disappeared with relief. Draco felt relief washing over him as he heard and felt his wounds slowly sizzling. He leaned back, getting himself comfortable.

"Sit," he ordered her.

Hermione with a scowl took a seat at the edge of the tub, cocking her eyebrow.

"We should talk."

Her eyebrow rose further, questioningly.

"More rules."

Hermione sighed heavily.

He continued, "You really should have nothing to do with other men."

Hermione shot him an I-can't believe-you-just-said-that look with eyebrows furrowed and her lip curling upward. "You're _fucking_ kidding me!"

Draco smirked hard. "The world must be ending. The Golden Girl cursed."

"Malfoy, shut it. I can't even begin to comprehend what you just said! Especially when you're the one putting your…_thing_ anywhere it could fit!"

"I cut off ties," he said somberly. "Therefore, you should stay away from men, _especially_ Blaise."

"Really? _Really?_"

"Yes, really, really."

Hermione shook her head, disapprovingly. "You know I have been questioned by almost _everyone_ about our relationship. And it's your fault!" she finished, with a loud voice, almost yelling.

"My fault! _My fault_!" he roared.

"Yes!" she bellowed back, leaning in toward him. "You and all these women! If I would have known this, I wouldn't be sitting here right now! Our plan isn't working because you're a…a whore!"

Feeling his strength come back, he went for her, tugging her a little too hard and she toppled over into the tub. She ascended up from the water with a loud gasp of air, her gown sticking snugly on every curve of her body. There was no denying now. Draco's heart pounded with the realization. He was attracted to Hermione Granger. There was no doubt about that. But that was all there was. Nothing, but sexual attraction.

"Why you always must be so rough?" she cried shrilly. She touched her hair and screamed, "My hair! I just did it yesterday!"

He never seen Hermione disgruntled over something so superficial, usually he would catch a glimpse of her panic over grades or rule-breaking back in Hogwarts, but never _this_. First he began to chuckle, but when her face contorted in fury and her hair became more matted onto her face and shoulders, he burst into a loud laugh.

She splashed water into his face and some went into his mouth as he began coughing harshly. A smirk played on her lips, but it was not there for long when it felt like a tsunami hit her. From what she could make out from her blurry vision, Draco leaning over the edge of the tub, laughing and laughing nonstop. She moved toward him like a predator and caught him off guard when she dunked his head underwater. Quickly, he soared up from the water, his body crashing into hers and she felt his nakedness touch her as he felt the swell of her chest against his. Red swept all over her face, but Draco looked like her wanted to consume her hungrily.

"Playing are you?"

Draco and Hermione snapped their head to see Lucius at the door, looking ominously at them. Draco immediately swept Hermione into his arms, pressing their bodies close, shielding her to cover her body.

"Meeting tonight at six. And bring it," his chilly voice said. And with that he was gone.

Hermione felt her tense body relax at his leave, but when she looked at Draco, she immediately pushed him away. He stood up, his manly parts coming at the same level of her face and she threw herself back, ungracefully with a splash. Merlin, she wanted to drown right about now.

Draco began drying himself and pulling on his clean underwear with his back toward her. She couldn't help, but to look at his perfect bum. He mumbled, "What did you say?"

"To what?" she replied meekly, dipping her body low into the water, hoping to disappear forever in it. She unnecessarily focused on the ceiling too hard.

"To the people who questioned you… Who was it that questioned you anyway?"

"Zabini. Evelyn…"

"So what did you say?" He now turned toward her.

"We had an open relationship… I also told Evelyn that's why you chose me… I wasn't possessive. She's a witch you know… Just replace the W with a B if you must."

He gave a small chuckle. "Good enough answer… Are you planning to get out?"

"No."

"But we should talk about tonight."

"What about tonight?" She dipped lower.

"Granger, stop trying to hide yourself. I have seen plenty of women's bodies including yours. So will you get out and have a real conversion!"

"Just give me a moment please."

Draco left the bathroom with a slam and Hermione got out, drying herself as clothes appeared on the counter. She slipped on the black lacy underwater, black blazer, black v-neck, black leather leggings and the black six inch heel booties with green bottoms. With all this black, Hermione felt like she might as well be color-blind. When she came out, he was all in black too, leaning back on the loveseat coolly.

"I have a rule I would like to make."

Draco bore his eyes into her. "Depends."

"I want you to control your anger and stop man-handling me."

He snorted.

"Malfoy."

"Listen, and just sit." When she did not move, he pressed on, "You're going to want to sit for this."

Hermione moved cautiously toward him, sitting as away from him as possibly.

"Tonight my father wants you to come to the Deatheater meeting."

"When did he say that?" cried Hermione shrilly.

"In the bathroom."

"No, he didn't!"

"This is why I lose my temper. Brightest witch of our age my ass. When he said 'Bring it'–"

"He called me an 'it!'"

"Yes, I know. I didn't like it either," he admitted. "Anyway let me give you some brush up on Deatheater history so you'll at least have some idea. Can't have you going in with no preparation. So listen up!

So as you should know at least, many Deatheaters were killed or captured. _But_ much more escaped after the Battle of Hogwarts to countries like Bulgaria or Albania or Slovak, places like that. Those places hold the most pureblood wizards and witches. There the Lestranges were taken in by a family. And considering with this whole new movement, Dementors were kicked out of Azkaban, making it much, much easier to my father to break out. There are endless rumors on how he got out. Knife. Used someone's wand. Help on the inside. Turned into a snake. I'm not sure which one is true. I never asked and I won't. He immediately left for Bulgaria where he met with the Lestranges. And with that, they were able to convince _almost_ all the pureblood families over there to take over Britain."

Draco gave a humorless chuckle then continued, "He wanted power."

"Like many men in history," nodded Hermione.

Draco nodded in agreement. "And he was bitter. Bitter that now mudbloods and blood traitors were above him. He wanted revenge. He wanted order. And he didn't want to go back to beginning _below_ anyone. Many of the Deatheaters now are from different countries and follow blindly with their primitive beliefs. They moved here and helped the beginning of the terrorization. And now are here to stay. Along with the old ones too. The Ministry was harder to get to, with Minister Shacklebolt, but yet easier since many of the Aurors died in the battle and in the chase for Deatheaters. And now Minister Raft Sielski rules, but he rules under my father, taking orders and such. All you basically need to know is the Malfoys are first then it's the Lestrange brothers."

Silence killed them both as Hermione was turning in her head all of this.

Draco continued, "I didn't know about this. Any of it. Until one day my Dark Mark burned. And I was scared shitless. So at the time, when you helped me in court…I—I didn't know."

Hermione's eyes jolted up to examine his face in shock.

"I don't want any of this bullshit, Granger. Trust me, I don't. But I was sucked into it once again. And no one fucking understands. It's like I'm alone." All the words came rushing out of him at an incredible flow that the minute he stopped talking he instantly felt regret. Hermione had no right to hear this.

"You're not alone. I'm here for—"

"Save your breath," he growled. "Leave." When she didn't move, he roared at her. "LEAVE! NOW!"

She got to her feet slowly, her eyes refusing to waver from him. She said every carefully, "You're alone because you chose to be. I've always extended my hand to you. And to let you know, that won't ever change." She left with a soft click, leaving his mind pounding with thoughts.

Draco began pacing back and forth in front of the dining room's grand doors, fidgeting and becoming nervous every long second. Where was she? He had sent Cherry to get her. Damn that elf!

He heard heels clicking rapidly and Hermione came into view as she got near him, she stumbled. Draco reached for her, hoisting her up.

"Dammit, Granger," he hissed.

"Sorry," she said as she straightened herself up. "I don't know how to walk in them all that well."

He rolled his eyes. "Let's go in." He pushed the door open to the dining hall where the meeting was taking place.

And the first sight was Lucius right in the middle of it all, beckoning them to hell.

**A/N: Hey everyone! =D What do you think of Hermione & Draco's interactions so far? Is it going at the right pace? I would like to know what you think! **

**PS- I'm warning you now, this is probably going to be a long fan fic! 3**


	11. Branded

**A/N:** **First off, I would like to thank everyone who left a review, favorite and followed. It means lot especially with the positive and constructive reviews that continue to encourage me. ^_^ **

**Secondly, maybe some of you have notice (how can you not?) I been having some issues with some of the "guests" on here. I know my story is not perfect. Frankly, it probably as too many grammar mistake to keep count (that I am WELL of aware & it's b/c I really suck at grammar T_T) BUT still thank you for keeping with this story and frankly, putting up with me.**

**Thirdly, for the "guest" I'm not cocky. I never claimed for my story to be the best or ah-mazing. So there isn't ANY reason for me "to get over myself." I don't think my writing jumps around or makes no sense (although Dramione is nowhere near canon or remotely realistic, I do research on spells and events and people in the HPFF world). I think YOU are rather bitter and I don't apologize for what I said. I think you got offended by what I put so you are biting back naturally. I would LOVE to have a real conversion with you, but you are not only behind a computer, but also anonymous for reason I think we BOTH KNOW why. And your criticism is not criticism at all. THIS IS WHAT CRITICISM LOOKS LIKE: "I'm such a death eater when it comes to grammar and there were lots of things I guess spell check missed in the beginning chapters and it made me skeptical about how good the writing was going to be…but I'm so glad I continued reading…" FROM NAT. I took the criticism of my horrible spelling and grammar skills (have tried to improve, but haven't improve greatly =( …)and responded nicely. You on the other hand are a bitter person who like to whine a lot about stories not going your way. Oops sorry I couldn't make everyone happy including yourself and honestly, I don't give a s***t that I can't you happy. If this story REALLY adds to your misery, I am glad I could add to it. =D**

**P.S.- O.O I know I'm not nice sometimes. BUT not everyone is not as peachy as they seems =)**

There were Deatheaters taking every seat of the dining table. Lucius was in the center, Narcissa to the right of him and the Lestrange brothers to the left. Other Deatheaters were packed in other seats or against the wall. Many of them wore the black cloaks proudly, some showing their face, others covering their identities with the shadowy hoods and few had an half skull mask, looking deadly.

She felt Draco's slightly warm hand, interlacing his fingers with her. Ignoring everyone's piercing stare, he looked forward, leading the way to their seats beside his mother. Draco held the chair open for her and she took a seat next to Narcissa and Draco sat next to her and besides Blaise. Hermione try to catch Blaise's eye, but he refuse to look at her like Narcissa.

"Got yourself a mudblood pet?" Rabastan Lestrange growled at Draco.

With murmur in the background, Draco replied firmly, "She's my fiancée." Draco protectively put an arm around Hermione, pulling her close.

Lucius cleared his throat and silence fell over the room. "We are here today to discuss this." He pointed at her Hermione as her eyes widened with fear. "She is a mudblood, dirty, filth, _yet_…" His voice was calm, but chilling, "my son is persistent to marry her. At first, I thought just like you, wanted to exterminate the thing on the spot."

Hermione flinched at his choice of words as if she was a pest.

"She might be _useful_." His lips curled into a side as he cocked his head, staring at her. "She is the _brightest witch_ of our age. And she is also friends with those at the Ministry and not to mention…with the boy who lived…_twice_."

"She hasn't spoken to Potter," Draco cut in.

"Let the girl speak for herself!"

Hermione bottom lip began trembling as she found her voice weak and almost stuck in her throat. "I…I—um I don't speak to the Potters or the Weasleys. And my friends at the Ministry were all from the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. They will be no use to you."

"She lies," he hissed like a snake, sending her into violent shivers. He reminded her so much of Voldemort.

"Look at her work record then," Draco snapped.

"And where is _Reeves_?"

This is going to be one hell of a gamble, but she was going to tell the truth. To get in. To gain a tad bit of trust.

Her voice was crisp and firm, each word coming out sounding more and more assertive, "America. He's there trying to rally some resistance to help here."

Lucius must have been satisfied with her answer, seeing more truth to it. He leaned back in his chair, stroking his chin. "And what do you think of this?"

Her eyes met the cold, dull gray ones of Lucuis. "It's not going to work. America may be free of prejudices, but they have been very independent and isolated. They didn't get involved in the first or second wizarding wars even if they were completely aware of it. They definitely won't interfere now. But just in case, maybe you should some over there to suppress him. I studied a bit on wizarding communities in America so I can pin point likely places where he might be."

He nodded thoughtfully in silence, his eyes still boring into his. "You are one smart girl with good advice…_Ms._ Granger. It is such a cruel circumstance that your blood is dirty and to get married to the last Malfoy. A shame, really. You'll be ruining our blood line. And you're children would be of a nasty sort of hybrid." He now looked at his son, carefully. "I doubt you can be a good father to such filth."

Anger shot through Hermione's veins, sending impulsivity roaring through her body. She shot up out of her chair, and startled everyone including Lucuis.

"Don't you _dare_ talk about what a good father he can be!" She was going to say Malfoy, but 'he' came out instead quickly. "Draco," she continued carefully, awkwardly rolling his name off her tongue, "will be a good father! Not much I can say about you though. Leaving your son for DEAD!"

Narcissa perked up at this, her breathing ragged, imploring Lucius to see if this was true.

She slammed both of her fist on the table, sending a quake. "Draco! WOULD NEVER EVER DO SUCH A CRUEL THING! HE IS NOTHING LIKE YOU. HE IS A BETTER MAN AND STILL GETTING BETTER AND I CAN PROMISE YOU WHEN WE HAVE CHILDREN HE WILL BE THE BEST DAD TO EVER WALK THIS _FUCKING_ EARTH!" she bellowed every word, sending trembles.

Her voice plummeted low and scarily calm. "Draco may be marrying a mudblood, but this does not define who he is. This Deatheater shit does not define who he is and you _fucking_ won't either! He is a good man and he will be a good father BECAUSE WE LOVE EACH OTHER!" And she stared at Draco. "And I'm always here for him despite everything else. Despite the past, despite the prejudice, he always has someone… Me." She and Draco were an intense stare, unwilling to peel their eyes away.

Her heart was thumping. She hoped Draco got her message loud and clear. That she was not so cruel to abandon him even if he insulted her all the time, or the dislike between them was so clear. She was trying to extend her hand to him as a friend.

The sounds of his heart was so loud, he swore everyone could hear it. Hell, maybe even people in London could hear it. The way she stood up for him, especially when he knew she disliked him greatly. He admired her for it. He appreciated her for it. The realization that Hermione was always trying to extend her help and comfort and support to him just hit him. The flashbacks exploding in his mind, she always seemed to be there, offering a friendship.

She finally realized everyone else was around and took her seat quickly.

The door burst open and Evelyn pranced in, her hips swaying dramatically. "Is she going to get branded?" she purred, but her eyes her wild.

Now it was Draco's turn to act rash. He seized Hermione's forearm, wrapping his fingers around it, shielding it. "She will not be getting marked."

Lucius jumped to his feet, snatching Hermione's forearm, causing Hermione to lose reach of her wand. Draco stumbled back into Blaise. Lucius pointed the tip of his wand at her forearm, whispering words quickly under his breath. Something was burning into her skin, sizzling and faint steam coming from her forearm. She struggled to get away from his grasp and stretching her arm out for her wand. But the familiar man, Farrow, pocketed it and pushed Draco into the wall.

"HEY!" shouted Blaise, going after him, but he kicked to the floor roughly by another.

Hermione was now screaming in pain, loud as sniggering could be heard beneath her cries. She was losing air, the pain so unbearable. The flashback of being torture by Bellatrix burned in her mind as a waterfall ran down her cheeks and she could taste the saltiness of the tears. She would have sworn she heard Bellatrix laughed. "NO!" cried Hermione. "NO! PLEASE!" begging Bellatrix, but in her blurry vision, the figure resembled too much of Evelyn. She was slamming her palms on the table on repeat, jumping up and down, laughing much like that dreadful woman with the same wild look that could not be tamed.

"Brand the bitch! Brand, brandy, brand, brand!" she laughed madly.

"Stop it!" she clearly heard Draco's call, pleading.

The pain stopped and she felt herself falling and falling until she reached the ground with a thud. Then she felt herself beginning sweeping into someone's arm, being cradled, protected, and shielded. She looked up to see the face, in the blurriness, he had dark features, beautiful dark brown eyes, perfectly tanned skin and dark brown hair. She lazily looked up in another direction at another figure, noticing his build, it was Draco. He was pointing his wand at his father again. The outline of him started to grow fuzzier and fuzzier and dimmer and dimmer and then just like that, everything went black.

"Draco, please tell me what she said wasn't true!" begged Narcissa.

"It is," he whispered quietly. He couldn't face his mother, couldn't look her in the eyes.

He heard a sob coming from her mouth. He inched closer to her on the couch in the living room, wrapping his arm around her. "How could he!" she cried. "I know he doesn't want you to marry a…_her_, but to take out his anger like that and leave you there!" She unburied her face and looked up at her son. "Let me see."

"Mother please."

"LET ME SEE!"

He heaved a sigh and stood onto his feet, taking off his clothing to reveal his chest. His mother started examining him, only seeing a very faint pink of where the gashes were once. "She…did well."

Rolling his eyes, Draco snapped, "Of course she did! What did you think?"

"I…don't know. Darling… I'm sorry about her."

He gave a hallow chuckle. "Don't be it isn't your fault. It was going to happen anyway."

"But it shouldn't have been like that…" whispered Narcissa.

"Regardless, it is what it is. Nothing I could do now, but let me go tend to her." He turned his back on her while putting his shirt back on when he heard his mother whisper.

"Draco, that girl…she might…you might…nevermind."

He turned slightly to his mother, cocking an eyebrow. "Might be what?"

"Nothing. She just might bring out the best… In you." With a lower whisper, so low Draco could not hear as he walked away, "And perhaps in all of us."

On the last step of the flight of stairs of his corridor, he heard a loud yell, "LET ME IN!"

"NO!" squeaked another voice. He rushed to find Evelyn pointing her wand at Cherry who blocked the closed door to his room. "I will not let you hurt the Missez!" As Cherry shook her head violently, he ears flapped, almost hitting her own face.

"How _dare_ you defy a witch, you little insufferable—" Evelyn was cut off by Draco's hand tightening around her jaw, slamming her head into the wall with all his strength. She slid down onto the floor, with a glare so devilish.

"Ms. Tiberius," he growled. "You do not speak to my elf like that."

"Oh, now I'm _Ms._ Tiberius, huh?" She seductively crawled like a lioness. Her hand cupped his crotch and he smacked her so hard, her head flew left. She was now heavily breathing, whispering horrifyingly calm, "What is wrong with you?" Her eyes lifted up. "You don't even love her."

Draco stood silent for too long unable to answer her truthfully and then quickly lied, "I do."

She hoisted herself on her feet, caressing his jawline with her long finger nail. "You see. Mustn't believe Draco Malfoy. He could never ever fall in love." She stepped back, flinging her head back and opening up her arms and laughed sinisterly. "He won't love you, girly! No he won't!" She batted her eyelashes, swaying her hips, now with a grim face. "Hope the bitch dies one day soon. I'll be back for you, Draco." She leaned in for a kiss and he dodged it.

He grabbed her by the throat, his grip tightening around her. "You do anything to harm her, _indirectly or directly_, I will fucking kill you Evelyn. Stay away from her and me." He shoved her back and she stumbled, but regained her footing and her ego, leaving with hips rocking.

Once he was completely sure she left, he looked down at Cherry. "Cherry, thank you." Cherry's mouth fell a bit open, but recovered herself by dipping in a low bow. "I'm—er sorry she spoke to you like that. Just please guard this room. If _anyone_ other than me tries to come in, send for me."

Cherry nodded slightly in shock. "Yes, Young Master Malfoy."

"Excuse me."

He entered his bedroom, his eyes unwavering from Hermione who lied peacefully on his bed. He took a seat on the chair by the bed. The minute he looked at her arm, he buried his face in his hand. The whimper was light, but the second he heard it his head shot up. She was stirring then her eyes fluttered open to show the beautiful brown orbs.

"Granger," he breathed.

She hummed as she stretched slightly, whispering, "What happened?"

"You pasted out."

Remembering, she hastily sat up and looked at her forearm. And there it was no longer a blur, clear than it had ever been before. It was so strange. Something she never really saw before. "No," she whispered. Her fingers outlined the shape of the tattoo. The realization of what it was dawning on her quickly.

"I'm—" But the word could not form. He couldn't say sorry. He never knew how to. But he was. He didn't want it this to happen.

"Is…this what you meant by…" her voice faded out, still unable to fully comprehend that this just happened.

"It's official," he muttered.

She stared at the tattoo, unable to believe she has been branded.


	12. Messages

**A/N: Hey, everyone! Thanks so much for the support and everyone is being really encouraging! I can't even tell you how much in words does that mean! =)**

There it was. Green and black. The crest had snakes with wings so similar to that of a dragon on both side and spears sticking through the top corners and the middle. On the middle spear was two snakes wrapping around it, its tails feather-like. A proud "M" stood high in white in the middle of the crest. It was the Malfoy crest.

This was imprinted on her forearm.

"How do I get this off?" she asked feebly, watching it and tracing her fingers over it. She felt as if she had lost her fight, her will, staring at the crest. It was like a sign for her damnation.

Draco shook his head. "You can't. Granger, you were going to be branded either way."

"Well, _thank you_ for telling me that _now!_" she almost shouted at him.

"What the fuck you yelling at me for?" he barked.

"_Because_ a warning would have be nice! Now I'm stuck with this thing for the rest of my life! And it's like I'm property!"

"_You_ like property!" Hermione have him a menacing look and he quickly added, "That's why we brand. Merlin. Granger, think of it this way, throughout history women were uh…"

"Considered property, I _know_," she said distastefully.

"So, Malfoys branded their women, daughters, wives, mother, and every woman they wanted to own. Every woman wanted it too. They wanted to be a Malfoy. Considered it a high honor. Now, it's just tradition. My mother has it too. And the way everyone else sees it, you are mine. Only mine now. You _belong_ to the Malfoy family."

"There's really no way?"

"No." After some time, Draco spoke again, "At least you're not a Deatheater…"

"I don't think that's a bright side to this," she replied bitterly, pointing at the mark. "Either way it seems like I'm stuck doing things for them, _helping_ them out. Might as well be one." She threw herself back into the pillow, covering her hands with her face and groaning with frustration. "I'm screwed!"

Draco sourly chuckled. "Worst. _Fucked_. You're _fucked_, Granger."

Hermione looked at him and gave him a halfhearted smile. "Thank you for lovely choice of words. Why do you curse so much?"

He smirked, "I'm a grown man. I can use it if I like. And look who's talking. You were spitting out curses lefts and right back there."

She rolled her eyes playfully. "I don't usually talk like that, okay?"

"Sure," he agreed sarcastically.

"I'm serious. Your father made me so mad! How dare he speak about you like that when he did that to you?" Her voice was loud, almost screaming with rage.

Draco wanted to say thank you to her. That he appreciated that. But he couldn't. It wasn't in his nature to do so. He just nodded at her.

Hermione was quicker to thank him. "Thank you though. For – uh defending me…" Her eyes averted down to her lap, looking awkwardly at her fidgeting hands.

"It's not a problem," he muttered. He looked down too slightly embarrassed.

"I have to thank Zabini too."

He narrowed his eyes at her, the unknown feeling of jealously arising in him like a flame ready to combust. "For what?"

"He was there, wasn't he? The one who…uh…held me?" Her eyes met his and she could see them cloud as if a dark storm was on its way.

"Yeah, so?"

"He was protecting—"

"No he wasn't," he snapped, the fire in him growing larger and unable to be controlled.

"He was _Malfoy_. It wasn't just you," she snapped back.

He abruptly stood up with the loud rasp of his chair sliding backward harshly. "Get off my bed and go to sleep."

"Are you—?"

That's it. That fire had combusted. He pushed her hard off the bed and she landed with a bounce on her mattress on the floor in total shock he just did that. Without any hesitation, she grabbed her pillow and hit a now cozy Draco in his bed right in his face.

"Granger!" he roared.

He then took his own pillow, hitting her hard so she fell back onto her mattress. Then, she fumbled for her wand and when she found it, she aimed it at him, yelling, "Densaugeo!" It hit him on his mouth and his front teeth grew bigger and bigger until it looked like horse's teeth. Upon seeing this, Hermione burst into loud laughter as Draco touched his teeth, becoming pink with fury.

"That's what you get!" she laughed. "I want to see the ladies look at you now! And it's revenge when you used it on me!"

"That was years ago!" he slurred, having trouble talking with his teeth. "And take this!" He threw an instant scalping hex at her.

Her hair fell all around her and she frantically rubbed her bald head with both hands. Hermione grabbed a fistful of her beautiful golden brown hair in both hands that was scattered around her. She began shaking and burst into tears with loud sobs. This surprised Draco as he jerked back, unable to handle this. What was he supposed to do? Never in his life has he handled crying girls. And Merlin, he didn't expected Hermione Granger, out of all people, to act like this. He stared at her for a bit before he went into action. Doing what he thought he was _supposed _to do. He cautiously, very cautiously went toward her and uncomfortably wrapped his on arm around into a one-sided embrace. He cleared his throat. This was going to be hard…

"Granger, I'm–er…" He couldn't say sorry not to her, especially her. "I took it too far," he finished instead. "CHERRY!"

With a faint pop, Cherry appeared and upon seeing them, placed her hand over her hand in shock. Without saying anything, she left with another pop.

"Granger, I promise this will never happen. To be honest, I can't understand why you're crying," he muttered to himself.

But she heard him. "Can't understand!" she cried shrilly. "My hair is gone!"

"But you don't really care about your looks," he reasoned.

"DON'T CARE!" she bellowed frantically. "Of course I care! No one wants to be bald!" Hermione looked into his sorrowful eyes, but his huge buck teeth got in the way of the seriousness of it all. A smile crept slowly onto Hermione's lips.

"What are you looking at?"

A playful grin was etched upon her face as she whispered happily, "Let's take a picture."

Draco furrowed his eyebrows at her and growled, "No. Absolutely not. No. _Fuck_ no."

Hermione pulled herself away from his awkward embrace and dug inside her purse, pulling out a wizard camera that was slightly smaller than the professional ones used at the Prophet. She rushed excitedly toward him, pulling him close, and starling Draco.

"Smile," she teased and took a snap of both of them with a bright flash and purple smoke rising.

"Granger!" he growled threateningly as he pulled away from her. "Give me that photo now.

"_Absolutely not_," she mimicked in his voice.

The photo was now slowly developing as Hermione began to flap it, blowing on it to help the process. She heard Draco rustle, moving toward her and she quickly dodged him.

"Granger," he warned.

"Malfoy." She stuck out her tongue playfully.

He bum rushed her, tackling her onto his bed as she stretched her arm to get the photo out of his reach. He pressed his body against her, extended his reach, his fingers fidgeting to reach the photo. He looked down at her face, their faces so close. And a thought hit him. Drastic times call for drastic measures. He pressed his lips hard against her as her eyes widened in shock, distracting her from the picture. He was able to snatch the photo from her hand. But even with the photo in his hand, his lips lingered on her much longer than what he intended and should had. Her lips were perfect, supple and tender. He wanted to bite down teasingly on her bottom lip. But he knew better. Draco pulled back his roughly, his heart beating a storm in his chest.

Hermione took a gasp of air, feeling the warmth and arousal tingling on her lips. The guilty pleasure of the kiss stinging as she her thoughts immediately switched to Ron. She was technically still engaged. A terrible reminder that what just happened was cheating. Oh…and what happened in the living room over a week ago was cheating too. Cheater. Cheater, rang in her mind, deafening all other thoughts.

Draco always been a lustful man, but kissing Hermione was taking his lust to level that should be forbidden especially for him. He already had admitted he was sexually attracted to her which was something beyond his control. But to act on it? That was entirely different. He didn't think, looking at her now, he wanted to take it all the way. But when he kissed her… It was something he did not expect. His eyes lingered on her breasts showing through the blouse, wanting to pounce on her.

The pop of Cherry arriving, snapped both out of their thoughts. Cherry had one wooden bottle in one hand and a round blue glass bottle in another. She gave the wooden one to Draco and the other to Hermione. Draco gulped the potion down, feeling a pressure on his teeth and knowing his were shrinking. Hermione sipped on it slowly, feeling absolutely nothing. Her finger touched her hair, but it was short and she took another sip again. This time she felt hair brush her shoulders. She kept drinking until it was the way it was before Draco had shot the hex at her.

"Thank you, Cherry." Draco handed the bottle to the little elf. "Appreciate that. Always know what to do. But I can't expect less from you. You are always the smartest."

Cherry's eyes bugled with utter, complete shock. Her mouth dropping low and she began stumbling on her words, "Than-Thank yo-you Mis-mister Young Mast-Master Malfoy!" finishing with a squeak. "It's not a problem at all for Cherry!" she bowed so low, her nose touched the ground.

Hermione's eyes twinkled and smiled at the elf. "Thank you, Cherry."

"Not a problem at all, Misses!" She bowed at Hermione before, taking her leave with a pop.

Hermione looked into Draco's eyes, impressed. "What was that about?"

"What?"

"You treating Cherry like that."

He shrugged. He knew the reason deep down inside. It was typically behavior of a man when he wanted to impress a lady. But he ignored the reason and pretended he didn't know himself. "Well, now, time to throw this out. Can't even understand why you would take this bloody picture." He looked at the picture of his face turning into shock and squinting at the flash.

"As a reminder," she whispered, her thoughts averted to the photo and the kiss.

"A reminder for what?" he snapped.

"To be nice to each other. Every time we get upset at each other, we can look at the photo. And maybe it will calm our anger or hate for each other and perhaps laugh at it too."

Draco averted his eyes back at the photo, staring at Hermione's bald head with a small genuine smile creeping on his lips. Hermione moved behind him, looking at the photo. She went to grab for the photo, brushing his hand lightly and they both jerked back from each other.

"Here." Draco held out the photo. She took it and pinned it on the wall near her mattress. His eyes wandered low on her body as he said, "Make sure no one sees that."

"Yup." As she turned around, he snapped his head the other way, pretending to be looking out the window. "Well, I guess… good night?"

"Yeah, good night, Granger…"

Hermione gave a big, unattractive yawn in front of the dining room's doors. She felt exhausted, unable to get any sleep because Draco was being difficult last night. His emotional sleep, causing him to thrash and scream was harder to serene last night. She actually stood up for most of the night. She looked at the tattoo again and cringed at the site of it. It was hard to ignore, but Hermione was doing her best to do so. She was stuck with it, according to Draco and right now, for these circumstances, she couldn't have it remove even if it was possible. She would act like she was proud to be branded a Malfoy. Another yawn came as unattractive as the last, her mouth stretching wide.

"Cute," muttered Draco disgustedly at her. "And you look like shit." He gaped at the light dark circles under her blood shot eyes.

She shot him a glare and hissed, "How about a good morning, you jerk!" She entered the dining room with Narcissa sitting at the middle section of the table with pictures and folders sprawled out. Hermione took a seat in front of her with Draco following shortly after.

"So, you're engagement party will be next week. And here is what you're dress will look like." Narcissa slid a picture to Hermione of a dress. And Merlin, it was dark, but beautiful. It was an a-line, princess sleeveless with half of the top with sliver gems, shining brightly. From the waist down was a black chiffon material, flowing to floor-length. The empire waist hugged the model tightly.

"It's gorgeous," breathed Hermione.

Narcissa was taken by Hermione's compliment on her choice and gave her a genuine small smile. "Good and I have measurements for you already so your dress should be here shortly." She then slid a scroll. "Here is the list of the guests attending. And the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly will have representatives. I booked an interview for both of you before the party here in the Manor. So you better have a good story pieced together." She did not say this with malice, but rather as a concern warning.

Draco nodded and replied calmly, "It's not a story, mother."

"Yes, love," she replied sarcastically as she left the two alone.

"Master Malfoy! Master Malfoy!" squeaked Cherry, running past Narcissa with an envelope in held high up in her hand. She ran to his side and he took in gently from her with a thankful smile.

"See, Granger. I'm not all that bad."

She gave a snort.

He opened the letter as he face fell and shuffled to his feet quickly. "I need to go—"

Hermione quickly seized his arm with her stare hard. "No. You're not going anywhere."

"Let me go, Granger," he sighed calmly, controlling his urge to push her off.

"Malfoy, I'm not letting you go out there again. You might get hurt. I won't allow it."

He finally looked into her beautiful brown eyes, searching for something. But he wasn't entirely sure what he was looking for. "I have to go. If I don't, shit could get worse."

"Letter me at least."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Might get intercepted. Especially by some Deatheater who I really prefer not to know our conversions." He was more worried by spies within his own community.

"Do you know how to do a patronus charm?"

"Vaguely. Not enough to ward off any dementors."

"No, use you patronus to send me messages… Mine is an otter. Look out for it."

After some time, just staring into her eyes, he nodded. "Alright. You should already know mine. It's a tiger. I'll send you the first message. And the messages are just between me and you. Don't tell my mother anything. I don't want to worry her more."

She unwillingly let him go, her arm dropping to her side, but his eyes were unwavering. Draco wanted to lean in and kiss her, but he knew he couldn't. He nodded and left briskly without looking back.

Hermione spent the rest of her day at the library and the next on at the library and it continued. Eventually the library was no longer entertaining her especially when the worry crept on her every day. She waited and waited for the sliver ghost of a tiger to pounce through a window and hear it speak in Draco's voice, telling her he was fine. But it didn't happen. Until one day she got two surprises.

"Ugh, shut it!" she whined. She removed herself from Draco's sheets as she been sleeping there since he hadn't been around. She wrenched one of the windows open. And the tweet of the bird was louder, singing in its annoying voice. "SHUT IT!" she roared. The bird swooped it and tangled in her hair. She started to scream and flail her arms around like a manic. Eventually, it detangled itself, flying to the chandelier, swinging it slightly. Hermione ran her fingers through her hair, finding something in her hair. She brought it to her face and it was a small piece of parchment. She unrolled it and it became much bigger.

_Hermione,_

_I hope everything is fine with Malfoy and you aren't hurt. I'm nervous for you being in the middle of it all. I cannot believe this is happening, with you living under the same roof as the enemy. Harry is convinced this is best, that you can spy. But I'm more concern for you. And if Ron knew? He would go mad. Don't worry I haven't told him anything even if he is my brother. Ron has been acting strange though lately. Haven't gotten much letters from him. Especially since he use to letter like mad. But apparently he's been withdrawn, according to Mum. I'm really sure he misses you so much. And it has to be stressful. They haven't had any luck in France and Reeves says the Americans are unconvinced. At least the resistance is strong here. Letter me back please. _

_Love always, Ginny_

_P.S. We are all doing okay at Grimmauld's Place._

Hermione sprinted to the library to get a piece of parchment and a quill with ink and retuned back to the room, placing no-entry enchantments. She wrote quickly,

_Ginny,_

_I am doing fine. Malfoy is not as bad as it seems. We almost have a growing friendship, I think. And I think I gain probably 1% of the Deatheaters' trust. Not much, but it's a start to get in slowly. I just need to prove myself. If you get into contact with Ron, tell him I miss him terribly. And thank you for not telling him. He wouldn't understand why I'm here. I know it must not be easy in France or America, but we cannot give up. Yes, Malfoy told me about the resistance. I don't know much though. I haven't stepped out of the Manor since I been here. So please update me whenever you can. It's also great to hear you are all doing okay. That brings some relief. Hopefully you'll write to me soon again. _

_Love more, Hermione._

"Come on," she told the bird. It fluttered onto the window sill and she bewitched the parchment into a tiny roll for the small bird. She tied it to its leg and it shot through the tree. She could see it in the distant, hopping from branch to branch to keep its cover. She let out a sigh, knowing the bird was slow and careful, meaning it will take a while to get back an answer.

As she stared at the few rustling red leaves of the trees and the cloudy, ominous horizon, she couldn't help think of Draco. The rest of her friends were okay expect him. He was a friend…right? That's it. She needed to know if he was okay. She casted her patronus, the otter dancing in the air.

She was going to say Malfoy, but what if someone else overheard her saying Malfoy instead of Draco? She cleared her throat and then spoke loud and clear, "Draco, are you alright? I'm worried about you." Did that sound fiancée-ish enough?

The otter swam out the window eventually compressing into a ball of light, cutting through the air. With a sigh, Hermione headed for the bed crashing down and buried her face in the pillow. She almost drifted to sleep again when a light shined so bright, she looked up from the pillow to find a tiger leaping in through the window.

It spoke in his firm voice. "Hermione, baby," at baby she blushed hard, "I'm fine. I'll see you soon. I love you." And at the words 'I love you,' her heart skipped a beat.

He says his fine…but… Maybe he's around other Deatheaters. That's why. _Just hope he's okay._ There was an unsettling feeling in her stomach. She knew only one other way to make this go away. She got herself ready and headed straight toward the library.

What did she not expect was Narcissa to be sitting there when she had her own library in her own corridor. What was even worse was she was sobbing with an open book on her lap. When she noticed Hermione, she immediately move to the window with her back toward Hermione.

"Narcissa," said Hermione carefully.

"Leave," she whispered.

"I know you're worried about Draco. I am too… Have you heard from him?"

"No," she croaked, choking back another sob.

Hermione breathed heavily through her nose. She knew Draco told her not to tell his mother for whatever reason…but…

"Narcissa, Draco just told me he's fine."

She spun looking at Hermione with tear-filled eyes. "He…he did? _How_?"

"Patronus Charm…"

She sniffed then cried, "Why would he contact you and not me!"

"He told him not to tell you anything. He didn't want you to worry…"

"_Worried!_" she cried shrilly. "I'm more worried that he hasn't said anything!"

"I know. That's why I told you even if he told me not to…" Hermione looked into her future mother-in-law's eyes. "When he comes back, I'll have a talk with him. That he can't do this to you."

Narcissa looked down, bit her lip and nodded, looking incredibly vulnerable. Hermione forced a smile at her and left, deciding to cook both of them a brunch. Hermione did this incredible brunch, inviting her. Narcissa actually accepted. The first time she sat down and had a meal with her. They were in complete silence, but once in a while Narcissa gave Hermione a small smile. Hermione of course returned it, more encouraging. And that's how Hermione and Narcissa formed an acquaintance, greeting each other minimally and sometimes sharing meal even if it was in silence.

One day Hermione decided to wait up early to do a banquet breakfast for the both of them and the elves. This will take her mind off of Draco for the time being. It was the day before the engagement party and he still hasn't returned. She just walked out of the bathroom when Draco stumbled in. And she had never seen Draco like this ever before. He was shaking violently and fell to the floor.

When he looked up, tears were rolling rapidly down his cheeks and then he began sobbing.

Something she never could imagine was Draco Lucius Malfoy crying.

But he was. Right here in front of her. _What happened?_

**A/N: O_O WOW! First off, thank you everyone for the reviews so far. It keeps me extra motivated. **

**So what do you think so far? How about the slow developing relationship of Narcissa and Hermione? Let me know! **

**P.S.- I wrote up to Chapter 37 already =O **


	13. Protection

Hermione dropped to her knees in front of Draco, looking into his watery eyes. His eyes were lost, gazing blankly at the floor. His cheeks were stained with tears as if he had been crying for days. Draco refused to move and he was still as ever. He let out another sob and Hermione's heart dropped. She was scared for him. What was hurting him?

"Malfoy," she whispered sweetly.

But it didn't seem like he knew if she even existed.

"Malfoy," she said more clearly, firmly and louder.

Nothing still.

"Come on." Hermione hoisted Draco to the best of her ability and was lucky when he blindly obeyed, following her. She laid him down on the bed, searching in his eyes of what was possibly happening to him. "Malfoy," she repeated. Still no visible sign of reactions. "Cherry!" she cried shrilly.

And as always, Cherry appeared with a pop. "Yes, Miss—What is wrong with the Young Master?"

"I'm trying to figure it out," croaked Hermione with fear. "Please, a warm wet towel."

Cherry left as Hermione repeatedly called for Malfoy, but he looked completely lost in an abyss. Has he—? No, please no. Please! He can't lose his mind. Her mind wandered to Neville's parents. Could it be the Cruciatus curse? She began whimpering in terror. Please, Malfoy, no.

The adorable little elf appeared again and Hermione hurriedly grabbed it from her, shouting thanks. She was unable to control the tone of her voice. She placed it on his forehead. Still no response. Hermione cupped his face, begging, "_Please_!" The cloudiness disappeared and the iris of his eyes looked more focused.

"Granger?"

She heaved a sigh of relief.

"Get off of me!" he mumbled.

"Malfoy!" she squeaked with delight, knowing he was coming back to his normal self. She leaned in for a hug, squeezing me tightly. He felt awkward under her embrace and patted her back slowly, but yet still liking the warmth of her. She pulled back, her sad eyes looking into his. "What happened?"

"Don't worry about it, Granger," he growled lowly.

"Don't give me that shit, Malfoy," she spat.

He first cocked his eyebrow in slight surprise then a smirk formed shortly afterwards. "Cursing again, huh?"

"Stop it already. You're always getting angry or deflecting important things. I can't understand why you can't just share it with me! I'm your friend, you know. There is no reason to act that way."

_Friend?_ He turned the word over and over in his head as if it was a foreign word that he barely heard. Was she really his friend? He was hesitant to answer his own question, but after some time, he had to admit she was. She'd done so much for him to prove her friendship and he willingly accepted it in his head. Did she need to know what happened?—

"You sent me a Patronus saying you were okay. Obviously, you weren't."

"I had to lie," he admitted.

"_Why?_"

"My father was there. He told me to lie to you. When I was lettered, it was a fake. They didn't need me. They baited me as _punishment_. My father…" his voice faltered, but his eyes were intensely staring into Hermione's eyes. He could see her eyes already blazing. She was clever and already knew the rest of the story. Despite this, he continued, "My father tortured me, Granger. Yes, he used the Cruciatus curse on me."

"Is he here?" whispered Hermione so quietly, but deadly.

"He came back with me." Draco eyed her carefully.

Hermione paused a moment, staring at Draco as he looked at her confused. She was making sure he was okay before she left. When she turned to leave, he called, "Where are you going?"

She immediately turned around and shot a Body-Binding curse and Draco felt his limbs slap to his sides and his body go completely frozen. No matter how much he attempted to move, there was a pressured force keeping him still. His eyes darted everywhere in a panic and he saw Hermione leave hurriedly out of the room.

Hermione's head was throbbing with anger and she couldn't help but to feel the impulsiveness roar in her like a wild fire. Unable to contain it she found herself in the other corridor, hearing low arguing.

"Where were you, Lucius?" hearing Narcissa's hiss.

"It is not any of your concern," he replied coldly.

"And how about Draco?"

"Draco, was where he was needed to be."

"And where was that?"

Hermione took a peek through the crack of their bedroom door, watching Lucius' eyes dull and harden with cold fury. "You ask too many questions, Narcissa," he hissed.

"Tell me this instant!" she cried shrilly.

Lucius shuffled, aiming his wand at his wife. "Shut. It—"

Hermione rushed into the bedroom with her wand drawn at Lucius, shielding Narcissa who was cowering behind her. Her heart was thundering against her chest as Hermione could not believe that she was doing this, but she knew she had to protect Narcissa. She has been a victim of the Cruciatus curse by Lucius before and Hermione would be damned if he used it on her again. She had to defend her, even if it would mean she would be in the crossfire.

Lucius slightly cocked his head and let his arms fall to the side. He began studying her, his eyes slowly moving up and down at Hermione. "Girl," he said coldly.

"Do not 'girl' me!" snapped Hermione.

"You should leave this dealing between me and my wife, between me and her. It is none of your concern," he replied icily.

"It is _my_ concern!" Hermione decided to choose her words carefully for what she was about to say. "She is my mother-in-law. I don't want to see her hurt. I don't want to see anyone hurt."

The last sentence held the most truth for Hermione. She couldn't consider Narcissa her mother-in-law in this loveless, although, agreed upon marriage. But one thing was for sure: Hermione did not want to see anyone hurt even if it was someone who she barely liked.

Hermione continued, "Especially…_Draco_. I am warning you, if you _ever_ hurt him like that again, I can promise you will regret it."

She couldn't believe she was threatening Lucius Malfoy, new leader of the Deatheaters, but she was exhausted by the way Lucius cruelly handled things especially his own son. During the silence, Hermione vividly remember a blond boy who always depended on his father, but slowly distanced himself away over the years. _What happened?_ asked Hermione. She knew the answer. _The war._

Lucius finally spoke in an icy whisper, "I can promise you, you will regret _this_." He briskly strode out.

"What happened to my Draco?" whispered Narcissa with silent tears racing down her flushed cheeks.

Hermione turned to her. "He used…" An overwhelming feeling was stuck in her throat. She couldn't speak. This was too much for her.

"Cruciatus Curse." It wasn't even a question. She knew.

Draco shuffled in, heaving hard with fire almost breathing out of his nose. But his mother threw herself at him, embracing him and sobbing. "I'm so sorry, Draco. So sorry." He felt awkward under her embrace, but patted her on the back. His stormy eyes bore into Hermione with such intensity she had to look down at her feet.

"You can't hide things from your mother anymore," Hermione said firmly, looking back into his eyes.

"What I do—"

"Listen!" she yelled. "You are so inconsiderate! Do you ever stop and think how your mother must feel? She is _worried _about you, but you seem to think no one cares! She cares! I care! I've had enough…" Narcissa timidly looked at Hermione. "You're not going anywhere anymore."

"And who are you to tell me this!" he bellowed back.

"She's going to be your wife," whispered Narcissa sadly. "You should respect what she says. Please, Draco, do not be like your father."

At this, Draco was still, watching Hermione carefully. He didn't want to be like his father. Never ever. Not even to his _fake _future wife.

"Okay," he agreed.

Narcissa watched him, patiently and waiting for something that Hermione wasn't entirely sure of what. Then it hit her. _Oh_. Hermione moved cautiously to Draco, leaning in to peck him on the lips. Before she pulled back, Draco laced his fingers through her hair, bringing her forward to feel the supple lips. He pressed hard against her. He couldn't help it. He hadn't had sex for a couple of weeks and he was dying inside, craving and hungry. He finally pulled back, shooting Hermione his infamous smirk.

"Excuse us, mother. We need some alone time."

A pink blush fell over Narcissa's cheeks and she nodded, embarrassed.

"No, no. We need to discuss a few things." He gave a chuckle in which caused Hermione to examine him as if he was ill. He looked back at her and gave a slight smile. "Come."

Finally at the privacy of their…or Draco's room, Hermione turned to him. "What is it we need to talk about?"

"Tomorrow. The interview?"

"Oh. Malfoy, don't you think it's better that you rest."

"I'm fine," he growled. "Granger, _please_. I understand you're worried about me, but you need to trust me. I'm fine."

"Trust?" she thought aloud. Trust, yes…friends have trust. "Okay," she said finally.

Draco moved to the couch with Hermione following after them and they both took a seat. He heaved a heavy sigh. "We need to decide what our story is."

Hermione shrugged.

"Like how we met."

"Hogwarts."

"That I know, Granger, but a solid story. Everyone knew you were with the Weasel so how did we end up together?"

Hermione bit down on her bottom lip which for some reason aroused Draco, a flame burning intensely within him. "Well, I was obviously cheating on him…"

"Clearly, Granger."

"What if I always had a crush on you and the same for you. And at Hogwarts…our seventh year, we developed something. We can add what happened with Caine Joss and instead of you cursing at me, you were thankful—"

"Then I sent you roses as my gratitude—"

Hermione's laugh rang in the room. "That sounds nothing like you!"

"What are you trying to say? That I can't be romantic?"

"Absolutely not!" she snorted, laughing.

"Well, I can."

Nodding to agree with him sarcastically, she said, "Sure you can. But if _you_ think that is believable."

"You're insulting me again," he growled.

Hermione gave him a slight nudge. "Only teasing you. Okay, so you sent me roses. And then I met up with you to thank you and tell you how much you've changed."

"And how sexy I am."

Hermione rolled her eyes playfully. "And after that, everything fell right into place. We met secretly because of the prejudices we would face from my friends and your family."

"That was sweet and to the point."

"Malfoy, I really don't think the details are much needed. Have you ever read the interview me and Ron did? The section of how we fell in love was sweet and to the point. Details drag it on."

"I never read the interview between you and the Weasel. I never understood why you were with him."

"What do you mean?" she snapped. "He's a great person!"

"Granger, I don't mean to offend you," he replied solemnly. "I'm not arguing he isn't a great person. But he isn't attractive, he doesn't have money, nor is he on the same level with you. I just thought the Gryffindor princess deserved better."

"And what's wrong with Ron?"

"It's like you _settled_ for him."

"_Settled for him_?"

"How many guys have honestly liked you?"

"I am a well-liked woman."

He gave a humorously snort. "The only people who liked you were the Weasel and Krum. But we both know it would have never worked with Krum because of distance. So who were you left with? The ugly red-head git."

"Ron treats me well, Malfoy. He is brave, sweet, funny, and loyal and…" She faded out thinking of other words to describe Ron or any qualities that were remotely good about him other than what she mentioned.

"And what? He isn't on the same intellectual level as you. Nor can the man give you a life to live like you should. I've heard most people say that you were too pretty for him. And considering what you've done? You deserve it all."

Hermione flushed at this and Draco felt his cheeks tingling with heat.

"I love him," she whispered

"Love. Not _in love_," he pointed out.

"And what do you know, Malfoy?"

"I guess I don't. Never been in love or even come close to loving someone," he admitted.

"Not Pansy or Astoria?" she asked timidly. She was surprised at how honest Malfoy was being with her. How he was opening up.

"No. Never."

"Don't you want to love someone?"

He shrugged. "If it happens, it happens. I won't force it. Nor will I settle." His stormy eyes met her beautiful brown ones as he wanted nothing more to lean in and kiss her. He couldn't explain why. She was a friend. In the end, he decided it was because he was craving any kind of sexual interaction and that's why he wanted to kiss her.

"Maybe we should get to know each other a little bit more?" she suggested.

"Like how?"

"Share favorites and childhood memories."

"I really prefer not to talk about childhood memories."

Hermione bit down on her bottom lip, nodding. There goes the wall again. He put it up. But patience was the key with him. She wouldn't rush it. Their friendship just blossomed. She was satisfied of how much he opened up already. Be grateful.

"That's okay. I'll go then." She rummaged her head for a memory and smiled slightly at one. "One day, I was at my parents practice. They're dentists, they fix teeth," she explained. "And my father had to step out, leaving a patient under anesthesia." When Draco gave her a puzzled look when she said the word, "anesthesia," she quickly explained what it was. "The patient was almost out cold. I wanted to be funny and snuck in. With a permanent marker, it's like a quill, but permanent, I drew all over the man's face. My parents didn't have the heart to tell him so he left the office with swirls and a drawn in mustache and beard. He was the only person that ever left a complaint." She grinned at the memory.

And Merlin, was her face beautiful when it shone so bright. There it goes. The urge to kiss her. He had to go. Get himself away from her as far as he possibly could. "I'm going to get something to eat, Granger."

"Oh." Her smile flattered. "You want me to make you something?"

"No. It's fine." He walked out of the room and made sure, he avoided Hermione entirely the rest of the day.

*****

His screams echoed in the room, "NO!" he cried with a pain-filled voice. Hermione buried her face into the one hand she had left, the other one was laced with Draco's. Nothing at this point was calming him. This is the worst she had ever seen him before. She knew why. The curse was fresh in his mind, the pain embedded into his skin and the ache squeezing his heart. Her singing wouldn't work. Holding his hand wouldn't work. And Merlin, how she hated to see him in such a nightmare. She thought long and hard. There was that one night, he didn't thrash like he did. She heaved a sigh and crawled in bed with him. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling herself close to his cold body. Immediately, Draco attached to her. She felt the heavy weight of his muscles embrace her protectively and his body slowly warming. The cries died down to whimpers then eventually ceased. But by the time they ceased, she was already sleeping peacefully.

*****

Draco felt hot breath on his chest and shifted slightly to feel a small amount of weight on him. He opened his eyes quickly and looked down at the sprawled out golden-brown hair and Hermione's face sleeping soundly beneath all the hair. How did she end up here? He watched as her eyes fluttered open and looked up at him. Panicked, she pushed herself away from him and sat up.

"Listen I can explain…"

He hoisted himself up on his elbow, cocking an eyebrow. "Yeah, I would really like to know, Granger."

"You—er—you were having a nightmare. And usually I would be able to calm you down, singing to you or hold your hand. But last night was bad and I couldn't get you to calm down. So I just…"

"You've been the one!?" he almost bellowed out of shock, but refrained himself as much as possible. "How long?"

"Every night that you've spent here."

"Well, DON'T FUCKING DO THAT!" he roared.

She jerked back at his reaction, unable to comprehend. "I was _trying_ to help! But _it's fine._ _Draco Malfoy_ doesn't need help from a _mudblood,_ right?" She removed herself from the sheets and stormed off into the bathroom.

He threw himself back into the bed, running his hands through his hair. Once again, she had proven herself to be a friend. What did he prove? That he was the biggest ass hole to have ever waved a wand. He didn't know why he screamed at her for that. Hell, he wanted her to continue doing whatever it took. He hated the nightmares. And he doesn't mind her sleeping next to him if it meant stopping them. So why the hell did he say that for? He didn't want to seem vulnerable. But she knew he was vulnerable if she saw him like that. Could you be vulnerable in front of friends? He had so much trouble working the "friend" thing out. His friends? He was the leader and he never trusted them to show his own weakness. It seemed Hermione on the other hand was used to seeing weakness. Had Potter or the Weasel shown her their weakness? Is that what friends do? Show each other weakness?

"Weakness," he mumbled to himself.

"You're not weak, Malfoy."

He shot up to find her at the doorway of the bathroom.

"You're not weak," she repeated. "People go through things and sometimes they can't handle it by themselves. They need someone to depend on, support. You think Harry did it alone? No, he always had me and Ron. You don't need to go through it alone."

There she had answered it. But could he shallow his pride and ask her what he really wanted from her? No. He didn't have the courage to do it. He just nodded.

She moved toward him gracefully as he became fixated with her swaying hips. "Malfoy, you know if you need anything you can always ask. We're friends."

The door abruptly open as Narcissa had an urgent look etched on her face. "Come, dear. We need to get you ready. It's going to be a long day."

"Engagement party," Draco said firmly.

Hermione peered at Draco, thinking of Ron. Ron would have asked stupidly, "What's today?" But with Draco, it always seemed that he was on point with everything. Is this what Draco meant by being at her level? Draco was certainly at her level…of intellectual and confidence.

Hermione left with Narcissa with Draco suddenly echoing in the back of her mind. But he was not in the back of her mind for long. As she was in a suite on the guest corridor, Cherry entered hours later with a dozen roses, handing them to Hermione. She set them down at the class table, noticing Narcissa beaming at her. Hermione couldn't help but to furrow her eyebrows in confusion. Narcissa _smiling_ at _her_ like that. There was a note, attached to the vase. She opened it and in beautiful handwriting it said:

_For a friend_. _And I told you I could be romantic._

She giggled heartedly. That was thoughtful… No one had ever sent her roses. Not even Ron. She took the note and placed it in her bra and continued to go through the motions of the "hard work" of getting ready.

Finally, after all the hair tugging, makeup application and putting the dress, she was able to walk down the staircase. Draco was at the bottom of it, waiting like a gentleman as she came down, he smirked at her. He held out his arm and she wrapped herself around it loosely.

"Ready?" he asked.

"The interview can't be that bad, right?"

He led her into the grand living room. The interview _would_ be bad. It wasn't a question anymore. She knew.

Nothing ever good ever came from Rita Skeeter. 

_Thank you so much __SassySlytherinGirl__ for editing this chapter XOXO. So much thanks. _

**A/N: =O we are seeing their relationship slowly build up. Do I hear wedding bells in the distance? WHO KNOWS! 3 **

**AND THANKS SO SO MUCH for the reviews. It means so much to me and I literally get excited when I log on and see them. Make me so happy! ^_^ **


	14. Engagement Party

Hermione pulled Draco back against the wall, shielding themselves from the nasty reporter before she could took notice of them. "Listen," she hissed. "This woman is foul."

Draco leaned back slightly to take a peek then shuffled closer to Hermione. "I know," he agreed. "I wasn't expecting her either."

"So what are we going to do?"

"Here's what we are going to do. We are going to hex her, bind her body, make her turn into beetle and bury her in the garden, Granger," he said sarcastically with venom seeping through.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm serious. I can't face her. Everything she will say, she will twist our words around."

He heaved a heavy sigh. "We can't do anything. Granger, you're the brightest witch of our age. I'm sure you can figure out a way without fucking up."

She grinned, poking him in the chest. "So, is that another indirect compliment I'm hearing?"

She had to admit she liked when Draco gave her compliments. They always seemed honest and without thought to them. It was almost natural when he gave her a compliment. Unlike Ron, who always complimented her to suck up or when he did something he was not suppose to do, knowing it would upset her.

"How cute," a familiar voice purred.

Draco and Hermione turned their head to see Rita's grin her pearly white teeth. His reaction was to pull Hermione close to him, as if to protect her from any possible threat Rita could do.

"Oh yes _he is_," agreed Hermione with a sweet false smile plastered on her face. She leaned in and pinched his cheek, lightly, but teasingly. And she saw something deadly flashed in his eyes despite the smile. Hermione had to admit, she was all too thrilled to be on the other side of the teasing.

"Aw, how sweet. The lovely couple. Come, come." Rita motioned them to follow her and they did. Rita walked, swaying her hips with confidence in every step. She walked as if she owned the Manor, as if she was the queen. She took her seat in an armchair as the _couple_ took their own seats in the loveseat, across from her. With a snap of her fingers, a peacock quill and parchment shot into the air.

"So," Rita purred. "This is quite a surprise. You two _together_. My, my, my. It's quite unexpected. The sexiest bachelor" at which Draco smirked, "taken by the Golden Girl. Tut, tut. What went on here? Ms. Granger, weren't you with Mr. Weasley?"

Hermione gave a quick nod.

"Say it, please. Quill needs to record it."

"Yes," she said firmly.

"How were you then with Mr. Malfoy?"

"Me and," she gave a false giggle, "Draco had a secret relationship. Exciting if I do say so myself. Somewhat _forbidden_. We used to have to always sneak around." At this Hermione looked into Draco eyes, trying to act as much as she can as his lover. "And we had an open relationship. We didn't want to tie each other down so soon."

Draco smiled at Hermione, nodding.

"Marvelous!" Rita clapped her hands together in excitement. "Almost like _forbidden love_. Something obviously changed your 'open relationship.' So what made you finally propose to her, Mr. Malfoy?"

"With everything that is going on, I need to protect the one I love. The one I fell in love with." Draco nuzzled her neck playfully and immediately felt aroused. Hermione flushed, but let out a girly giggle she didn't even know it was possible for her to do. He felt the heat from her neck and pulled away to avoid discomforting her any further.

"You two," grinned Rita. "How did you know when you fell in love?"

Draco cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortable. "When I looked into those beautiful brown eyes, my heart just…it feels something that I never felt for anyone." He began playing with Hermione's hand and fingers. "And her warmth in her eyes. She doesn't view me as everyone does… She doesn't…" His eyes lifted to Hermione's and there he really did see the warmth and tenderness her eyes could hold.

"How about you, _darling_?"

Hermione nodded, thinking, but thinking quickly. "I knew I fell in love with him when he showed me how much of a good person he was… that he wasn't like what everyone else thought him to be. As I got deeper, the more he showed me this. And I couldn't help, but to admire him and just…_fall in love_."

"Hm… but it's strange how all this got started. I _poked_, oh no, no," she laughed. "Some people were willing to give me private supplementary interviews. And none can recall when you two were actually _together_."

Again, Draco cleared his throat. "Well, _Rita_, Hermione helped me in a situation in Hogwarts. You can ask Caine Joss. But uh, after that, _me_ being the romantic person I am, sent her roses to thank her." At this, Rita squealed in delight, looking dreamily at Draco. "And she met up with me later, to _thank me_ for the roses and tell me how sweet it was." Hermione tried so hard not to snort at this. "We met up at a secret spot. And believe it or not, she _threw_ herself at me." He smirked. "I was her first." He gave a playful wink to Rita.

Hermione licked her lips, frustrated and closed her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them, she gave Rita a wide grin. "Yes, this is _all_ true. And even if he was a playboy, he was so _nervous_." She gave a false giggle. "He was saying things like what if _I'm_ not good enough. Silly things like that. Who knew Draco could be so insecure?" She flashed a grin at Draco and he grinned madly at her with a deadly glint in his eye.

"Yes, yes," Rita smirked. "So how is it you are able to do this? With _so_ much prejudice surrounding you two, how do you deal with it?"

Hermione answered quickly, "It doesn't matter anymore. At first, yes we did try to hide it, but now, it just doesn't matter. All that matters is how we feel about each other." She smiled at Draco. And he genuinely smiled back at her then kissed her on the neck.

"So what's changed?" Rita asked.

"We've matured," Draco replied firmly. "Times like this, made us mature. And I'm glad for it."

"What would you say is the most attractive feature of the Golden Girl? You have to admit, she isn't really a looker," Rita giggled and Draco chuckled at this, enjoying the insult. Hermione suppress a deadly glare and averting her eyes to the ceiling.

"Well, for starters, she is the _brightest_ witch I know," he smirked at Hermione. Hermione bulged her eyes out in order to keep them from rolling in annoyance. "But," he continued. "She's grown into a woman. And I think she's…beautiful and sexy. She has grace now. She's kind and patient. Finds the best in everyone. She's a giver, a caregiver. Courageous. Loyal. Brave. Never gives up on anyone." He cleared his throat awkwardly, realizing he knew a lot about Hermione than what he thought. "Her eyes… They're my favorite feature." He nodded, refusing to look into the stunning brown orbs. Hermione felt her heart squeeze.

"Captivating!" squeaked Rita. "And you, _Ms. Granger_?"

"Draco is obviously the most handsome man I've ever met. He's unpredictable. Always surprises me. And even to this day, I learn something new about him. He's actually playful too and can be warm. He has a good heart too. And when he laughs…" Hermione faded off, realizing everything she was saying were things she honestly really liked about Draco. "…all the worry seems to go away…" she finished quietly.

"How do your parents feel about this, Mr. Malfoy?" Rita questioned.

"Hermione is growing on my mother. You can just tell." He gave her hand a little squeeze, reassuringly. "My father's opinion, I do not care for."

"Ah, it must be hard to fit into the lifestyle of the Malfoys. How are you adjusting, _dearie_?" Rita shot a challengingly glance at Hermione.

"Very well, actually, but that's thanks to many people. _Oh_," Hermione pretended to swell up with fake pride, "_and_ I got this." Hermione turned over her forearm and leaned forward to show Rita the Malfoy crest embed into her skin. "It was a bit unexpected, but it is certainly beautiful."

Draco felt something strange… Was it pride? Looking at Hermione show the tattoo, was it pride he felt that she was his?

"Yes," agreed Rita. "I have to agree. The most beautiful crest I have ever seen. So you are…_officially _a Malfoy." Rita grinned wide, but Hermione could tell there was a sense of falseness beneath it.

"Sorry to interrupt, but guests are arriving," said Narcissa at the doorway. "Come. You both need to greet the guests."

Draco stood to his feet and Hermione followed his suit. "Thank you, Rita," he smiled. "We will be seeing you later during the party. Enjoy yourself and please make yourself comfortable."

He gave a slight bow and after seeing his mannerism, Hermione gave her a curtsy.

Narcissa ushered them to the entrance of the Manor. Each guest arrived, one after the other, and they were responsible for greeting every single last one of them. Hermione and Draco barely had any time to chat with each other. As the herd of guests died down, Draco's smile faltered.

"I swear if I have to smile at one more bloody person, I'm going to jinx myself," he hissed crossly.

Hermione gave a giggle as his mood lightened. "_Draco_, I think you'll be doing all of us a favor."

"Ha, ha, ha. Miss Gryffindor princess has a sense of humor."

"And what made you think I didn't?" she shot.

"Bookworms just don't," he smirked.

As she was about to retort, Narcissa herded them into the ballroom. Finally Hermione was able to soak in all its features as she has never been in this grand room before. It was the most beautiful room she has ever laid eyes on. In the middle on the far end were grand staircases, splitting into two and curling from the second floor to the first. The staircase and the railing of the second floor walkway were in a flawless mahogany wood. The walkways were spacious and hosted grand windows with sweeping cream-colored curtains. The bottom floor was open with a couple of roman pillars standing high and proud and slicing through to the second floor. Waiters with trays of flutes and hors d'oeuvres were weaving in and out of the crowd, offering the delicacies. Many people were lounging around the pillars. Hermione's eyes followed the pillars up to the art painted ceiling.

The ceiling was a "forget me not" blue with wisps of white clouds swirling. There the witch sat on a rather fluffy cloud, her wings fully spread. But she wasn't dark at all. She was grinning happily in a white ancient roman dress and her wings expanded and its feathers the purest white. He stood on the opposite of her, wearing his warrior suit again. He was playing the harp for her, smiling at her dreamily.

"Gr—Hermione." She felt Draco's hand nestle on her lower back. "We need to talk," he whispered in her ear. She nodded and he led her to the suite far from the guests. He closed the door behind him and she quickly casted a silencing charm.

"What happened?"

"We haven't been able to talk rules."

At this Hermione rolled her eyes. Him and his bloody rules! She nodded, all the same, for him to continue.

"We obviously need to call each other by each other's first names," he stated.

"That I know."

"And we need to _act_ like a couple."

"I know."

"Despite the fact, we might not be around anyone for the rest of the night, we need to be careful what we say. Remember that foul Skeeter can turn into a beetle and follow us. So, our conversations need to play a part in our couple appearance."

"Yeah, that's right. I completely understand and agree with you."

Draco moved toward her and patted on her on the head. "Good girl."

She pulled herself away from him, snarling. "Don't do that!"

He gave her a smirk. Before he could leave, Hermione called out to him. "Thank you!" He turned towards her, cocking an eyebrow, questioningly. "For the roses. I have the note on me. It's really sweet of you… You know I meant everything back there in the interview. What I like about you…"

Silence fell over them for passing minutes which felt like overwhelming hours. He felt his heart fluttering, squeezing, throbbing and anything else the heart can do when emotions fell over them. She's so honest and not afraid to be honest. She actually _liked _him. She no longer hated him, no longer dislike him, but _liked _him. And this was not forced. He was thrilled at this. Then there it goes again. The urge to kiss her. He diffused the situation by saying,

"Don't get cocky, though, Granger… I didn't mean any of the stuff I said about you."

Hermione swore she was going to burst into flames from the anger she was feelings within herself. But she followed Draco out, without another word. Best to be quiet, she thought. As they were heading back to the ball room, Blaise was outside the open grand doors. His hands were hitched in his pocket and when Hermione and Draco came into view, he looked up at them.

"Zab—Blaise," smiled Hermione. "Listen I want—" Draco left into the ball room where Hermione noticed he began talking to Astoria, "—to thank you for that day… You were there and I just wanted to give you my thanks."

He nodded. "Yeah, it's not a problem. You are my best friend's future wife…"

"I appreciate it."

"Well, since we are being all polite. Sorry."

"For?" she asked.

"I promise you I was going to teach you how to fly. But I haven't."

"Well, I know you've been busy," Hermione smiled. "Maybe some other time when you are free."

"I'm free tomorrow. I can teach you tomorrow if you'd like?" Blaise suggested.

"That'll be nice…"

"And congratulations to both of you.

"Thanks."

The minute Draco knew Hermione was going to thank Blaise, he didn't want to hear it. None of it. It was the unknown feeling of jealousy settling in his stomach that he felt like he couldn't be around either of them. He walked into the grand room as he eyed Astoria warily.

"Draco," she said in her usual soft whisper.

"Astoria."

"Is this what you meant—"

"Yes," Draco cut her off before she could give any details to their conversion. "I am very much in love with Hermione, Astoria. I hope you will respect this."

"No," she said firmly. "I won't give you up."

"Astoria, please," he hissed.

"What's there to even like about her?" she snapped.

"_Everything_," he answered crossly. "Please, do not insult her."

"She doesn't deserve you!" whined Astoria. "I do! She can never amount to you!"

"What is there about me that you like so much that you cannot give up?" he questioned harshly.

Astoria retorted, "For starters—"

"There isn't much to like of my son anymore," said Lucius coldly from behind Astoria.

Astoria looked into Lucius' gray, icy eye and bit down on her bottom lip in silence. She refused to either look at Draco or Lucius due to the intimidation of Lucius. Draco glared at Astoria in disappointment. He couldn't help to compare Astoria to Hermione. Hermione would have easily retorted, defending him.

"You're right, Lucius." Draco's eyes landed on Hermione who was now besides him. "There isn't much to like about your son. Instead there is so much to _love_ about him."

Draco wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist, smirking at Astoria. Astoria's mouth was slightly agape and her eyes followed them as they moved to a private corner of the ballroom. Once alone, Hermione gave a heavy sigh.

"What did you even see in her? She didn't even defend you," growled Hermione lowly.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I honestly really don't know."

"Champagne for the couple?" asked the waiter, holding out a tray with beautiful glass flutes filled with the champagne.

"I want firewhiskey," scowled Draco as Hermione took a flute into her hand. The waiter immediately retrieved the firewhiskey for Draco and handed it to him. Draco took a gulp as Hermione watched him warily.

As he continued to drink, Hermione scanned the crowd, quickly analyzing each person. "Do you even know everyone?" she asked. "There are so many people here."

He shrugged. "No." He took another large gulp.

"How about that guy with that awful furry mustache?" The more Hermione stared at the man, the more she was intrigued by the furry mustache with curls at the end. "It looks like a white rabbit."

Draco snorted into his drink with laughter. Immediately, he lowered the glass and wiped his mouth. "I don't know who that is. And you're certainly right. You know what would be funnier?"

"Merlin, don't say it, Mal—Draco."

"Careful," he warned. "_Hermione_. And what was I going to say? I bet you don't even know what's going on in my mind right now."

"I bet I do," she replied smugly. "You're still a guy and as immature as the next. I bet you want to see his mustache float away."

He smirked, "I dare you."

"Absolutely not," she hissed, turning toward him and her back facing the man.

"Yeah, of course you wouldn't do it. Miss Hermione is way too good for nonsense like that. She's like a prune. I bet you don't even know how to do the spell," he challenged.

"_Really_? Okay, let's try this."

She shuffled closer toward Draco and he lazily laid his hand on her lower back. With a slight turn, but concealing her wand, she waved her wand at the man. The mustache popped off right under his nose and floated up with several hops. The man slapped his hand over his lower face and attempted to jump up for his mustache, but he was too short and porky. Soon, other guests were flailing around to get a hold of the mustache and tripping over each other. Hermione unconsciously buried herself into Draco's chest as if he was Harry or Ron, to suppress the laughter. Draco bit down on his bottom lip hard with snorts of laughter, but he no longer was able to control it and laughed into Hermione's shoulder. With one last wave, the mustache shot back onto the man's face and he patted down on it, grateful, with a heavy sigh of relief. They shuffled into the shadow corner, bursting out in an attempted low laughter. Draco had tears slipping through his eyes as Hermione's legs were shaking. Both were unable to control themselves, holding each other up in their fits of laughter. When the laughter died down, Draco wiped his eyes and looked at Hermione. Immediately, with realization, he staggered back as she looked at him questioningly.

"Er— Excuse me sir, another firewhiskey," he called for the waiter awkwardly. He immediately received the drink and guzzled it down in one shot. "Another one!" He held up the glass.

"Sir." The waiter waved his wand at Draco's glass, enchanting it with a placement charm to be automatically refilled with firewhiskey from the cellar.

"Thanks," mumbled Draco. He cleared his throat and glanced at Hermione then returning his gaze to the crowd. "I guess you had it in you…"

"Hm? Oh yes. I guess I did. I proved you wrong."

Draco shot her his infamous smirk. "No, you proved me right. I knew a Gryffindor couldn't back down from a challenge."

"Oh, really?" She shot him a playful, fake glare as his smirk grew wider. Hermione's favorite song came on, "A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love."

"Oh this is my favorite!" she squeaked, excitedly. "Do you want to dance?"

He scowled at her, but held out his hand. She took it happily and was led onto the dance floor amongst other dancing couple. They began swaying to the rhythm of the slow song, their bodies awkwardly close.

"Picture please," said a man with a camera. Hermione and Draco looked at the camera, smiling, but continuing to dance. The bright flash went off and purple smoke arose, meaning the picture was taken. The man nodded at them and left.

"And tell me why is this your favorite song?" he asked.

"Oh, come and stir my caldron," she sang sweetly.

Her sweet voice filled his ears and used their engagement party as an excuse for what he was about to do. He dipped her low and pressed his lips against hers hungrily.

"Malfoy," she hissed so low against his lips.

"Publicity stunt," he whispered back on her lips.

He felt the softness of her lips, enjoying the sweetness and delicacy taste of them. A flame ignited within him, something he never ever experienced. It grew wilder every second his lips lingered on hers. He parted his lips as she followed his suit, inviting him in. His tongue snaked through and in the heat of the passion, Hermione took him in hungrily. She never felt so thrilled and excited for a kiss. Draco's hand slithered behind her head, entangling his fingers in her hair. She did the same, ruffling his hair only slightly. After Hermione's body was heated and her cheeks stained with pink, Draco pulled back. His chest was heaving up and down, his heart thundering in his chest. He swept her onto her feet and led her back into the dance.

"Great, I got a picture of that!" cheered the man with the camera.

Draco gave him a dazzling toothy grin and a wink. He then kissed Hermione on top of her head as an affectionate kiss.

"That was _impulsive_," she growled at him as her cheeks were still rosy.

"You did say that what you liked about me was that I was _unpredictable_," he smugly smirked.

She rolled her eyes playfully, but before she was able to retort, the song ended and the round of applause roared and echoed in the room. Then a more modern, upbeat song played by the same band came blasting on as the older folks cleared off the dance floor and were replaced by younger adults and teenagers.

_Here on this bewitched dance floor_

_I'm pretty sure my soul mate been found_

_You're about to be my lovely score_

_Oh! Oh! Baby, you've got me spellbound_

Hermione began to dance wildly to the upbeat song with Draco, who danced around her and she couldn't help but grin. He twirled her and dipped her low as he himself tried to suppress an oncoming grin. They were so absorbed with each other, every scowl and snide remark bounced off of them. Even though many people gathered for the party, no one was really celebrating because they frowned upon the potential marriage between the noble pureblood and almost peasant muggle-born. Despite them, the faces of the couple glowed with pleasure and it seemed they couldn't take their eyes off of each other. As the song ended with one last rocking tremble, Blaise approached the couple.

"May I please have this dance?" he asked Hermione then looking at Draco, "If you don't mind."

Draco scowled, but agreed reluctantly, "No, go ahead its fine." He walked off the dance floor, grabbing his drink again and gulped it down in one shot. As the glass refilled, he did not hesitate to take it down as another shot. And he continued to do so, feeling the heat of the bitter taste of the firewhiskey stinging his throat.

"Keep drinking like that, you'll be drunk in no time, but that's the point isn't it?"

"Pansy," he growled without even taking a look at her.

She stared lazily at Hermione and Blaise in a slow dance and then took a sip of her champagne. "You gonna share her?"

He snorted in disgust, "He better not lay a hand on her."

"Do you honestly fancy her?" she whispered.

His eyes darted around looking for Rita Skeeter and found her on the other side of the room, laughing high-pitched with Mr. Greengrass. "No," he firmly said. "Me? Love a mudblood? Fuck, no. You know better."

She slapped him softly and playfully on her arm. "So let Blaise have her then. He seems to fancy her."

The flaming sensation of jealousy was pushed down by the burning of the alcohol that warmed his body. He watched Hermione and Blaise, but their dancing figures began to be a bit blurry.

"Fuck Blaise," he cursed aggressively.

Pansy laughed then it dissolved into a small smile. "You know, I always wanted it to be me. _Thought_ it would be me…" After some silence and Draco drinking heavily, she continued,

"But after Hogwarts, we grew apart… You didn't even use me as a friend with benefits anymore. You became close to Astoria. Then I thought it would be her, but wanted it to be me. _Hell_, I still want it to be me."

He grunted into the glass and took another gulp. "You prefer her or Astoria?"

"For you? I prefer me, but considering you _only _gave me two options. It's obviously Astoria. Look at her, Draco. Take a good look at her. She is nothing compared to Astoria."

"She's got bigger ones than Astoria's." Another glass gulp and it refilled for the sixth time.

"You had—"

"No." His word almost slurred.

Now, it was Pansy's time to snort.

"She's got a beautiful body. I have seen it before and she's tamed that hair. A stunning smile…"

He hiccupped. "And she's the best person in here."

"Merlin, you're drunk," said Pansy distastefully, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, catch you later. That bloke is winking at me." She walked away, leaving Draco to his thoughts.

He began to squint as everything around him was becoming unbearably dizzy and nausea began to dawn on him. Okay, so he was drunk. That wasn't a question anymore, but he felt so sure what he said to Pansy was not out of drunkenness. Maybe he voiced his thoughts aloud due to the drunkenness, but that was how he definitely felt.

After a few more songs and loads of heavy drinking on Draco's part, Blaise let Hermione go with a slight bow. From the distance, Draco knew she giggled and saw her curtsy. She gave him one last fleeting smile before cautiously taking the hand of Goyle who began to awkwardly dance with her. Blaise avoided Draco by scooping up Pansy into an embracing dance. Finally, the song came to an end as Goyle nodded at Hermione and she returned it with a curtsy. She walked toward Draco.

"Nice little dance?" he growled at her.

"I was surprised when Goyle asked me to dance, but it was awkward. He was silent the whole time. I suppose he was concentrating. He kept looking down at his feet."

Draco gave a slight humorous chuckle into his glass then finished his eleventh drink. "And how about Blaise? Was it nice?" he snarled.

"Just small talk. Nothing too serious. He's actually really nice."

He whispered in her ear, "Nice guys finish last. Trust me, Granger. You don't want a man like that."

Hermione could smell the harsh stench of alcohol as she shot Draco a quizzical look. "Are you drunk?"

"Let's hope not," said Narcissa. "We need to do a toast. Come."

Draco stumbled forward and Hermione immediately grabbed his arm lacing it with her and folding her fingers between his with a firm grip. Draco leaned forward, nibbling on her neck and sent a hard blush to Hermione face.

"Draco," she forcibly chuckled.

She led him up onto the second floor and followed Narcissa to the railing, above the crowd.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" called Narcissa for everyone's attention and in response it slowly died down. Narcissa handed Hermione and Draco a flute of more champagne and held one up for herself. "I would like to make a toast. Wishing the couple…" she faded out, thinking, "good health and happiness to both." She looked into Hermione's eyes. "Sometimes you don't get what you asked for, but sometimes what you didn't ask for, may be the best thing." With this there was murmur in the crowd as Lucius bared his teeth amongst the crowd in disgust, but she continued, "There might be prejudices and obstacles you've never imagined, but as long as you have each other, you will become stronger and appreciate each other more than you've ever thought." Her voice dropped so low only Hermione and Draco could hear as the murmuring continued, "And possibly even fall in love."

At this Hermione's eyes widen in shock as Draco stilled in surprise, staring hard at his mother.

"Congratulations to you both," she smiled at them then the crowd. She held up the glass and took a sip with the rest of the crowd. With this, Draco and Hermione followed her back down to the bottom floor with Draco almost tripping down the stairs if it wasn't for Hermione. Narcissa wheeled around, hissing at Draco, "Pull yourself together."

"Maybe we should retire?" suggested Hermione. "Hopefully, people won't think it's too rude."

Narcissa scowled at Draco, giving him a disappointing look. "I will just tell them the couple wanted alone time."

Hermione nodded her thanks and dragged Draco through the crowd, shooting smiles in every direction. Finally, she opened the door to the bedroom and had an eerie surprise awaiting for her there.

She gave Hermione an evil smirk. "Oh, I'm just…you know, finishing taking a shower."

Draco who was looking down the entire time to focus more where his feet were going, looked up to find a fully naked Evelyn. Draco's eyes flashed as he roared, but still slurring, "CHERRY! CALL SER—CURE—A—ITY!"

"I'm leaving," smirked Evelyn. She threw on clothes and walked past the two, with one last purr,

"Good night." As she was walking out with exaggerated swaying hips, two brawny men with black cloaks entered, eyes darting in the room.

"Search," croaked Draco.

They stood at the entrance of the door for hours, watching the guards warily search and turn over the room. After an half an hour, one of the men came back, holding a tiny clear bottle and Hermione's shampoo. "Don't touch," he warned.

Hermione examine the bottle an eerie skull with the word "Caution" etched up at top.

"She tried to poison you," whispered Draco, his eyes unwavering from the bottle.

_Thank you so much __SassySlytherinGirl__ for editing this chapter XOXO. So much thanks. _

**A/N: Thanks everyone for reviewing =D I will be leaving on a cruise soon. So, I will probably post more just I have more to leave you with =) **


	15. Keeping Promises

"_Poison_ me? Why?" Hermione looked into Draco's eyes. "Is it jealousy?"

He flexed his jaw muscle, attempting to calm himself down from the anger that was about to explode. "We should stay in another room." He led her down the corridor to another room, but much smaller. She went to the bathroom and changed into the silk, short gown. When she came out, she watched Draco pace back and forth in his boxers, running his hands through his hair.

"What is it?" asked Hermione.

"_What is it?_" he repeated aggressively. "Bloody fuck, Granger. She could have killed you."

"Why do you care?" she demanded bitterly.

"WHY DO I CARE!" he bellowed and felt another hiccup coming on, but suppressed it. "Because as you said, we're _friends_. And to be honest, you're the most important friend I got right now." He cursed himself for letting that slip. Although his drunkenness subsided, he was still feeling tipsy.

"You are to me too," she whispered, moving slowly toward him.

"You know I honestly meant what I said in the interview. About what I like about you…" he murmured.

"You what?"

"Nothing," he snapped. "Go to sleep."

"Malfoy," she tried to reason.

He lifted her and threw her onto the bed and climbed in right after her.

"Are we sleeping in the same bed?" she asked feebly.

"Yes. I need to make sure the bitch can't get to you." The lights shut off after he waved his wand.

Hermione sank into the bed, deep in her thoughts. It seemed like Draco had finally grasped after all this time, she was his friend. She attempted to recall what Draco said during the interview. He said so many good qualities about her that reflected her status in Gryffindor, but… He also called her beautiful and sexy. Is that what friends say about other friends? And that their favorite feature is her eyes? Hermione convinced herself that part was only an act for the interview, suppressing the slightest hope that he really did mean that.

Draco felt the softness of her skin burning his as his eyes fluttered open. Once again their limbs were tangled as he clearly remembering both of them going to sleep at opposite ends of the bed. He heaved a calm breath, enjoying this moment. Very lightly, he brushed the tips of his fingers on her shoulders. She reacted only slightly, burying her face into Draco's chest. He slowly, very slowly, detangled himself from her. He tip-toed around, getting ready and left with a soft click, careful not to wake the beautiful woman in his bed.

He crept into his room where the security guards were doing another search as a safety measure. Drawers were wrenched open, clothes scattered on the floor and furniture turned. Draco went to the wall where Hermione pinned the picture of both of them. It wasn't there.

"Where's the picture that was here?" he hissed at one of the guards.

The guard approached Draco with his cloak, sweeping the ground. "Over here, sir."

They led him to a desk where the photo laid in shreds. Draco waved his wand, "Reparo." The photo stitched together, now repaired. Draco picked up the photo carefully, watching his and Hermione's faces change expressions. For some odd reason, he decided to look at the back of the photo. In red ink, the words read, "She will die." He crumpled the photo with his fist.

Anger was pumping through him as it filled his veins swell up with the overwhelming emotion. His body began to shake as a reaction with his nostrils flaring as if he was about to exhale fire. His anger was a ticking time bomb, ready to explode like a volcano at any given moment.

Another guard advanced toward Draco, "Sir, the poison was actually taken from the Malfoy's reserve."

Draco nodded. He had blown up. Draco left for the Malfoy's reserve in the chilly basement with shelves and shelves of potions of all kinds and an unhealthy amount of poisons. He grabbed the one he was sure Evelyn tried to use on Hermione.

He was going to have a talk with Evelyn.

The bell chimed as Draco walked into the Black Cat's Den. He scanned the isles of clothes, searching for the blonde woman. He weaved his way through the clothes racks to the back where he found her looking into a vintage, large mirror. Her eyes moved from herself to Draco standing in the background. She shot him a smirk through the mirror. Draco had completely lost it. He slammed her head against the mirror, cracking the glass of it. He forced her mouth open, tipping the poison bottle into her mouth.

"I told you I was going to kill you," he hissed in her ear.

She whimpered, "_Please_." Rapid tears began rolling down her rosy cheeks.

He pulled away from her, but his grasp was still strong on her neck. "Evelyn. You do not harm her. You do not come _anywhere_ near her. You do not even come to the Manor. I will have guards there and I will give them the okay to kill you if you step _one_ toe into my house. I don't want to see you. Not even for Deatheaters meetings. Disappear." With one last shove against the mirror, he released her. He began to walk away until Evelyn's high-pitched, cold laughter rang in the room.

He wheeled around, aiming his wand at her and screamed, "Avada—" at which she ducked, "—Kedavra!" The spell scattered the mirror above her, sending shards falling on top of her and around her. Where the mirror was once, was now replaced with a black carter with scorched marks around it.

A hand lay on his shoulder. "You need to be careful," scolded a voice.

Draco looked down to find Pansy, staring coldly at him. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Let's go." She handed him a cloak and he threw it over himself with the hood down as she did the same.

"Remember, Evelyn," he warned. He followed Pansy unwillingly out the Black Cat's Den and eventually to a table in a shadowy corner in the Leaky Caldron.

"What are you thinking?" she hissed.

"I was thinking that I was going to kill her," he snapped.

"What the bloody hell she do to you? You both used to mess around."

Draco rubbed his templates from beneath his hood. "She tried to poison Granger."

Pansy gasped in surprise.

"She's not going to hurt Granger. She's just not."

"I'm going to ask you this again. Do _you_ fancy Granger? You told me yesterday you didn't."

He rummaged his head for the conversation between him and Pansy last night, able to vaguely remember. Then suddenly the words echoed in his head, _"No…Me? Love a mudblood? Fuck, no. You know better."_

"I was angry," he explained. "About Blaise so I—um—said it out of anger. I'm going to get married to her. I more than fancy her. I'm…_in love_ with her." He try to say the last few sentences as convincingly as he could.

"I figured," Pansy agreed. "I saw it last night. The way you looked at her. The way you spoke about her. You really do…" He heard the sadness in Pansy voice and knew she was being incredibly honest.

How did he look at Hermione? And how he spoke about her? No. Pansy is misinterpreting. He didn't feel anything for her. Just as a friend. Did friends want to kiss friends though? _Let's not go there_, he scolded himself. He abruptly got to his feet.

"Going to the bar," he mumbled, walking away from her.

"It's eleven o'clock!" shouted Pansy at his back.

He shrugged.

The sunlight burned singed orange on her eyelids as she moaned sleepily. Her limbs stretched and her head buried deeply into the pillow. The bed felt light and she looked up to find no one. Immediately she shot up and noticed a folded note on a bedside table on Draco's side. She reached forward and read it,

_I left for Diagon Alley._

She sighed heavily, detangling herself from the sheet and slouching off to the bathroom to get ready. Once ready, she left for the kitchen. As she was leaning on the kitchen counter with tea in her hand, an owl swoop in, dropping the rolled up newspaper. She unfolded it to notice a picture of her and Draco, dancing on the front page. As she sipped the tea as read the Daily Prophet,

GOLDEN GIRL TRAPS SEXIEST BACHELOR

_Recently, Draco Malfoy, named Sexiest Bachelor for this year proposes to Miss Hermione Granger who is known as the Golden Girl of the Golden Trio. Years ago, her first prey was Harry Potter and eventually Viktor Krum. After the downfall of He-who-must-not-be-named, she trapped Ronald Weasley and now her latest prey, Draco Malfoy. Miss Granger seems as if she is at it again, toying with boys' affection, cheating on poor Mr. Weasley with Mr. Malfoy. She giggles as if it was nothing, "Me and…Draco had a secret relationship. Exciting if I do say so myself. Somewhat __forbidden__." Now, with the new rise of Deatheaters, she conned Mr. Malfoy into marrying her to protect her. Miss Granger shows cunning ways to seduce Mr. Malfoy to get her way as even her fiancée recalled, "We met up at a secret spot. And believe it or not, she __threw__ herself at me." Not to mention her promiscuous ways, she was also embarrassed of Mr. Malfoy, hiding him from her friends to the point no one even knew they had a relationship. Miss Racket explains, "I was in my sixth year when they came back for their seventh. Not once do I ever remember seeing them together. They pretend that the other one didn't exist." Although she had many quirks, the engagement party was a success as parties are always in the Malfoy Manor. Hopefully, soon though, Mr. Malfoy will realize the true nature of Miss Granger and leave before death does them part._

"UGH!" Hermione roared in anger, throwing the newspaper in the air, its pages glided down to the floor.

"Misses!" squeaked Cherry timidly. "Some is here to see you."

Hermione stormed out and into the living room. Blaise as handsome as ever as was leaning against the grand window, staring absently outside.

"Ziabni," she mumbled annoyed.

He looked at her lazily and eventually a smirk crept onto his lips. "I suppose you read the Prophet?"

She grunted unlady-like, almost like a troll.

He crackled with amusement. "And I can make the assumption you aren't too happy about it."

"It's not funny," she growled.

"That woman is foul. You should know better. Don't let her get to you," he said reassuringly. "Anyway ready?"

"Yeah, I suppose," she grumbled. "I don't have a broom."

"Don't worry about that too much."

He motioned toward her and they left through a patio door which Hermione never seen. He led her through a garden with cobble walkways and flowers stretching far. Its colors were vibrant and poking out of bushes, begging for attention. Although it was November, the flowers were obviously enchanted to stay beautiful all year around. Stone benches were positioned among the magnificence of the garden. Marble figures were spotted every few as she was able to catch glimpses of the statues who were portraits of Malfoy ancestors. After they passed the winged witch foundation that was grand and spitting water, they reached a miniature Quiddtch field. Blaise immediately walked over to a shed, pulling out one brooms.

"New models," explained Blaise. "Rocketship. It was invented by a muggle-born and right now the fastest broom in the world. Despite that, it was also nominated as the best broom for beginners as well as experts. The world has seen nothing like this broom. So, have you ever flown? Because I don't remember you ever on a broom."

"Well, no," she admitted.

"Okay, so let's get you on one."

Blaise pulled his foot over the broom, hoisting it up and looked at Hermione, waiting.

"You want me to get on?"

He rolled his eyes, but nodded. Hermione warily approached Blaise, but threw her leg over the broom. Once on it, she unintentionally slid back to Blaise, who cradle her with his arms, but hands gripped firmly around the broom.

"Ready?" he whispered in her ear. She nodded. He pushed off the ground lightly as the broom lifted into the air. "We're going to start out slow. So you can get a feel for it."

Very slowly, he leaned forward as the broom glided. Every few minutes, they picked up speed. The chilly autumn air stung Hermione's face as Blaise's muscular arms cradle her body. She felt his breath tingle in her ear, sending chills over her body. His spiced cologne filled her nose along with the harsh icy air. She never felt alive, the rush of it all. After some time, she glanced below to find a murderous-looking Draco. Blaise noticed him too immediately. Blaise landed gently as Hermione hopped off and ran toward him.

"Everything alright?" she called with Blaise right behind her.

"Everything alright?" he slurred. "You're fucking kidding me! Fuck you, Blaise."

"Hey, man," Blaise reasoned. "Relax. What's the problem?"

"I smell alcohol on you," Hermione commented. "It's only two in the afternoon. What are you thinking?"

"I am thinking that I came home to a fucker trying to get close to my fiancée," Draco replied violently. "What were you to doing?!"

Hermione took a step back, intimidated "He was just teaching me how to fly… I never flown before so…"

Draco gave an unattractive snort. "He's trying to get close to you." After some time of glaring between the two men, Draco spat, "Fuck you." He lunged forward, capturing Blaise in a headlock. Blaise punched Draco hard in the rib.

"Please!" begged Hermione shrilly, attempting to pull Draco off of Blaise.

The moment he felt her touch him, he shoved Blaise away from him. He roughly seized Hermione's arm, turning her forearm toward Blaise. "You know what this mean? She's mine! She is a Malfoy. Get out." And without another word, Draco dragged Hermione back inside.

"You're drunk!" she cried sharply. "You are such an angry drunk. Let go of me!" She snapped her arm away from his clutch as he wheeled around with a deadly glint in his eye. "Let me go get you something." She hurried off as he was unable to take his eyes off of her. When she finally came back, she handed him a familiar bottle. "Here."

He gulped the potion down as she scolded, "Only a couple of sips!" His light-headedness faded away as Hermione became clear as day, but his anger was still there.

"Didn't I tell you to keep away from him?" he growled.

"You did, but if I recall, I didn't agree to it. He's a nice person. I need to know how to fly and he offered. What else do you want me to say, Malfoy?"

"I could teach you. I was seeker. Why didn't you ask me?"

"Because you're so _iffy_ about certain things. You might have told me 'I don't teach mudbloods' or 'I don't have time for that' or any other excuse. Oh, don't give me that look! You know it's true."

"I will teach you."

"Not now. You're still a little…"

"Stay away from him," Draco commanded.

"Fine I will," she agreed hastily. "But on the condition—"

"Condition of what?"

"That you will stop getting drunk. You get unbearably angry when you're drunk. And most of the time, you intimidate me."

Draco examined Hermione by looking up and down at her and soon nodding slowly. He eventually held up the potion. "Where are you getting these?"

"I make them. I have a recipe."

"You? You came up with your own potion?"

She gave a slight shrug. "Yes. It's nothing too complicated. But I don't feel it's that useful. People drink for a reason and sometimes want to get drunk. Why would anyone want a potion that wares those affects away?"

"You're clever."

"…Thank you," she replied timidly. "You should eat… Are you hungry?"

He nodded and followed her into the kitchen as she began to take out ingredients for a beef wellington. She threw on a frilly maid apron as he watched begin to prep for dinner. _She'll make a good wife_, he thought. _Fucking idiot, but not for you._ Then his hormones got the best of his mind as he imagined her with nothing, but the maid apron. Impulsively, he put both arms either side of her, cornering as he buried his face into her hair. He inhaled the sweet scent of vanilla.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

"I thought I heard someone," he lied. He pulled away from her reluctantly and as he was walking out, he said, "Call for me when dinner is ready." And left convincing himself, he really thought he heard someone.

When dinner was served at early twilight, there was no exchange between the two. Draco filled himself with thoughts, persuading himself that his attraction to her was at a bare minimum, but the vanilla smell still lingered in his senses. Hermione was occupied with thoughts of Ron on an endless replay of worrying about him. Cherry eventually interrupted their thoughts more than halfway through their meal.

"Master Malfoy!" she squeaked as usual, holding out a letter.

Upon reading it, Draco jumped to his feet and quickly said, "Going."

"No. You. Are. Not," growled Hermione. "You made me a promise, Malfoy. That you wouldn't go to these things. I can't stand to see you get hurt."

"Granger, you're not my real fiancée," he spat.

"I am your friend!" she cried. "You are not going. I care about you. You will not go."

He was fidgeting now with impatience. "Shit is bad right now, Granger. I need to go to get this sorted out before more lives are lost."

"Let me go with you, then. If lives are in danger, I want to help too."

Draco ran his hands through his hair, his irritation growing deadlier, but he was complementing. His fidgeting became worse. Rubbing his temples, he made a final decision. "Fine. But you do as I say. If I tell you to run, you run or Merlin so help you, I will personally kill you. I don't care if I am in danger or if anyone else is, you go. Save your ass first." When she didn't answer, he barked, "Promise!"

"I promise," she said weakly.

He held out his hand for her to take and when she did, he led her out the gates of the Malfoy Manor and apparated into an unknown village.

In the fading twilight, smoke rose high into the sky as flames danced greedily upon the village houses, eating everything in its path. The screams were loud and piercing echoing through the near night. Lights blasting in every direction, with yells of unforgivable curses along with others. In the distant, a booming sound was heard as if something just had blown up.

This was the war. This was what was happening outside the safety of the Malfoy Manor.

**A/N: Please review 3 And thank you to those who have shown support =D**


	16. How Much Can a Person Mean?

The fire singed the corners of the houses and grew greedy with very bite. It danced happily as it hopped from house to house, growing untamable. A house collapsed up the street with a final smoke. Dirty faces lit up from the fire, looking black with dirt and wet with sweat and tears. Their mouths open, letting out cries and piercing screams. Black cloaked and hooded figures haunted them, lurking in the shadows of darkness with their howls of cruel laughter echoing among the screams. The sun was setting in the distance, the indigo night consuming the last line of burnt orange. The smoke rose to touch the night sky, connecting the ruthless fire to deep color of the ending twilight.

He saw her lip tremble and her eyes fill with the tears and automatically he regretted bringing her. He knew she would be tempted to fight in this battle against the Deatheaters. Could he even call it a battle? No, it was most like a massacre by the Deatheaters. He really regretted bringing her when he saw her hurting. She was hurting for people like her. For the people here. He couldn't stand the sight of her being hurt. She was always strong and weakness in her was weird to see, weird to even admit she had any kind of weakness in her.

"Granger."

Her eyes darted to him, noticing him holding a prisoner-like chain. Hermione's eyebrows furrowed in utter confusion.

"I'm going to bound you to me. This way you won't get lost. You won't get snatched. If I am in any real danger, they are enchanted to unclasp so you can make a run for it. Remember, Granger. You made a promise."

She nodded her head slowly and gulped down everything she was feeling that she swore she was ready to vomit. He buckled it around her left wrist and clasped the other end onto his wrist.

"Have your wand out," he commanded her. "And if we get separated and you come across a Deatheater, show them your mark. Your Malfoy Mark."

She didn't have the words to speak; they were stuck in her throat. He jerked the chain forward as they weaved through a running crowd. They ran through mothers cradling their children, sisters holding their younger sibling's hand, almost dragging them, the elderly stumbling along, getting pushed, but some were refusing to run.

"Stupefy!"

Draco pushed Hermione down to duck and with a wave of his wand; the man was shot into a fiery hut on the verge of collapsing.

"NO!" cried Hermione.

Draco immediately stopped, examining Hermione. She had a pained expression, looking at the hut. Draco jerked the chain forward for her to move, but she wouldn't budge. He surely would not be able to drag her through this. He shot her a scowl, but moved toward her.

"I'm not going in there to save him. He tried to hurt us. And I saved our asses. Now, I'm going to go in there again and risk my ass to save him? NO."

She whimpered, her eyes growing big and welling up with more tears.

He licked his lips impatiently and bit down on his bottom lip, thinking. With a loud, regretful, sigh he growled, "Fine. Stay here. I'm going to release you. I'll save that man, but go home."

She shook her head violently.

"You are not going in there with me."

Her voice sounded so distant, choked with overwhelming emotions. "I am. I need to help."

"No. You are not putting yourself in danger."

Hermione wheeled around and started heading toward the hut as it sent sparks of fire her way. She was yanked back by the chain. Her voice was a whisper, barely audible in the chaos, "Please. I can't stay here and not help."

Draco casted a complicated spell of a Flame-freezing Charm as Hermione looked up into his hard eyes in shock, she was impressed.

He gave her a grunt, grabbing her by the arm to pull her into the hut. The roar of the fire filled their ears as the snapping of the wood could be heard in the distance. The smoke caused their eyes to water as their vision became worse with the blurriness of tears and the haziness of the gray smoke. They both crouched and move cautiously through the fire. Hermione heard the wood cracking, splinter by splinter, until it gave a loud snap. Hermione looked up to see it falling, tumbling down above Draco. Hermione shoved Draco out of the way and into the flames. The wood landed with a hard bounce and continued to be devoured by the fire.

Hermione was in between his legs as they both hoisted themselves up from the ground, staring deeply into each other's eyes. The tickling flame against their skin was ignored, but an overwhelming sensation deep inside of them called for attention. He cupped her face, caressing her supple cheek with his thumb.

"You saved me…" he whispered.

Her eyes widened. "The man."

Draco quickly jumped to his feet, hauling Hermione with him. They ran blindly through the smoke in a hurried search for the man. Soon they found the man, sprawled on his side, his hand on fire.

"Aguamenti!" cried Hermione, her wand shooting out water at his hand and extinguishing the flame. It was too late for his hand, it was already scorched black. Shortly after, she casted the Flame-Freezing Charm on him.

"Okay, let's go! He's fine now!" bellowed Draco over the flame.

"No!" she cried back. "What if something lands on him too?"

Draco lifted the man roughly with a scowl and wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist, pulling her close. Black smoke rose from beneath their feet, swirling around upward of a reverse tornado. Hermione felt herself being swept off her feet and flying through the air. Once her feet touched the ground, the black smoke settled back down.

He dropped the man and whispered to Hermione awkwardly, "Thanks."

She cupped his face with both of her hands as her eyes bore into his. "What are friends for?"

He narrowed his eyes, studying her as if she was the only one who existed. The cries of people, the roaring of the fire, and the hallow laughter, were all ignored. Right now, she was the only one important. Was it at times like these? That people really notice each other. In times of desperation, was it then when you notice how much a person could mean?

Hermione swallowed hard, looking into those stormy eyes, so vulnerable. And only one thought hit her. What would she do without him if she were to lose him?

"Draco!" called a voice.

His eyes peeled away from her, looking at Rabastan sending a spell at a woman. Draco laced his fingers with Hermione, leading her quickly to him, avoiding spells.

"The Dark Mark!" bellowed Rabastan.

But spells came shooting toward Draco and he blocked each one of them. He couldn't get a break. "Do the Dark Mark!" he called to Hermione over the endless yelling. "Incantation is Morsmordre! Hold your wand straight and point it at the sky."

"I won't!" she cried.

"Do it now," he growled. "Be _loyal_ to me."

Rabastan roared, "Draco!"

Hermione bit her lip, complementing his request as Rabastan shot deadly glances every few minutes to Draco. A weak Draco flashed vividly in her mind. The Draco that was broken down from torture. She didn't want him to be punished again. She wouldn't be able to stomach something like that again.

Her arm was horizontal to the sky and she shouted, "Morsmordre!"

The green glowing light started as an aurora, slowly forming to the familiar skull. It opened its mouth slowly as a snake slithered out. If it was even possible, the cries and yells were louder and the ones shooting curses, stumbled back and some falling.

"Come," ordered Draco, pulling his arm forward to yank Hermione slightly.

Hermione, though, was looking up, shaking with hard breaths in and out. She felt coldness sweep her, consume her, devour her. Her feet would not move forward. She was like a statue, frozen, rooted to the spot.

"Oi!" he called for her. He jerked her again.

She wheeled on the spot as he led her through the fleeing crowd, pushing them roughly. Draco was focused on getting where he needed to get. He knew that at every village raid, they needed to find the headquarters for the resistance. Homes were burned to the ground, but headquarters were not found in the homes of average citizens. Rather, they were found deep underground. He kept moving forward as she followed briskly. He knew she was scared shitless.

"Where are we going?" she called from behind him.

"We need to find their headquaters!" he answered.

Draco felt a jolt on the chain as it stretched. He looked behind him to see Hermione, being seized by a man who said, "Cum' 'ere, bitch!"

Draco turned on the spot, roaring with his wand drawn, "Let her go!"

The man had his arm wrapped tightly around Hermione's neck, choking her. She was gasping for air loudly as she struggled to get away from the man's grasp. The man hissed, "Traitor."

Hermione's hand was shaking as she slowly lifted her arm with her wand. With a nonverbal spell, the spell blasted the man backwards. Draco violently grabbed her wrist as a nearby house collapsed, burning down to the ground. Without another word, they continued on their path. They weaved through people and took detours up side streets.

In slow motion, Hermione noticed the familiar dark face that stood tall amongst the crowd. His wand was waving back and forth violently and as the crowd parted Hermione recognized another figure with a recognizable waxy complexion stained with dirt. Dean and Farrow were in an intecse duel. By the look of it, Farrow seemed to be overpowering Dean.

" Avada—"

"Stupefy!" cried Hermione with her wand aimed at Farrow.

Before the spell hit, Farrow's eyes locked with Hermione and once it hit him, she swore she saw something extremely deadly. Dean noticed her too and froze on the spot when he saw her running with Draco. With of wave of his wand, Dean broke the chain apart as it shattered into pieces. Draco didn't even seem to notice as Hermione fell backwards. At that very moment, inconveniently, houses collapsed as the rubble landslide piled onto the street, blazing.

"MALFOY!" she cried. "NO!" Her sob was loud and desperate, her chest heaving. She ran to the wreckage, pulling bricks and throwing them aside. "PLEASE!" she howled. She tried to apparate, but couldn't. She balled her fist together and squeezed her eyes shut. No use.

He heard her voice distant and glanced behind him. She wasn't there. "Granger!" he bellowed, panicked. "Shit. No. Please. No." He darted to the debris, screaming on top of his lungs, "GRANGER! GRANGER!"

A shaking arm came through the hole. Her beautiful arm, stained with dirt. He immediately grabbed her hand hungrily, making it cup his face. "Shit," he whispered, trying to keep his voice steady. Once he felt a tear roll down his cheek, he pulled away from her. She mustn't know he was crying. He swallowed his shaky voice, and spoke as firmly as he could, "Stay there. I'll come and get you."

"Okay," she choked on her whimper.

Fuck. He needed to get to her now. He reluctantly let go of her hand, not wanting to let her go. He backed away and with one glance back, her hand was gone. Hermione buried her face into her hands, her hand still tingling from Draco's warmth. Then she felt a hand slap over her mouth and another hand seizing her throat, choking her from behind. She was dragged into a flaming hut further down, blocks away from the wreckage. The wreckage getting smaller and smaller in the distance. Her screams, the cries for help were stifled. There was no use. Hermione was able to finally get a look at her kidnapper once she was thrown to the ground.

It was Farrow. She forgot about him. That she was trapped on the other side of Draco with _Farrow_. Shit, how could she be so careless? How was he able to get up so quickly?

"Stupi' lil' girl," he smirked evilly. "I'm going to torch you, but you're so bootiful to let go."

"I—I thought I was ugly," she whimpered, giving herself time. "You—you said it before, right?"

He began to unbuckle his pants with his smirk growing bigger. "I thought so too. But lately, you've become irresistible." He brought down his fly and just as he was pulling his pants down, an unknown voice shouted, "Stupefy!" Again, Farrow tumbled to the ground with a loud thump.

"Go, get on," growled Astoria.

"What are you…?" Hermione faded out in astonishment. "You're not a Deatheater… Are you?"

"Not yet. This is my opportunity to prove that I'm worthy enough."

"Why all of a sudden do you want to become one?" asked Hermione cautiously.

"You ask a lot of questions…" After looking Hermione up and down, she continued, "I want to be worthy of Draco too. I want to prove to him of what I can be. I'm joining for him. I know he didn't ask me to, but this way I can be closer to him. Show him."

"But you've just ruined your chances... and for me? Farrow is going to remember…"

Astoria looked as if she was about to cry regretful tears, but only shook her head. "Go. Before he wakes up. Go through the back door where I came from." She pointed at it. "It should leave you on a Bellsbane street. Be careful, if you take the road to the left, eventually you'll be on Urban Road. There's a wreckage on that street so avoid that because you'll only be trapped. You might want to take Gillyfair Road. That's northwest."

"But—"

"GO!"

Hermione slipped past the flames out of the side down into another street. She went to draw for her wand, but it was not on her. She patted herself frantically. No. She had left her wand. Her mind wandered to her wand lying on the dirt ground near where Farrow snatched her.

Draco picked up the familiar wand with hands shaking. His eyes darting madly to find his girl. _His girl? That didn't matter right now._ He needed to find her as quickly as possible. "GRANGER!" he called carelessly. "GRANGER!"

Hermione looked up at the night sky, swearing she heard her name. She had to find Malfoy. All the streets signs were scorched black. She trekked up the hill to see if she could scout better from up there. _Keep your head straight, Hermione._ She continued a little farther up the cobble streets, away from the burning houses. The houses here were already burnt and some already collapsed with faint smoke still puffing out. Out of the darkness of the corner, a black-hooded figured rounded the corner. He immediately drew the wand at her. Knowing she was helpless, Hermione only had one option.

"Don't!" she cried. She held up her forearm. "I'm a Malfoy."

The man pulled his hood down, showing a baggy face, deepened with dark spots. "You're Draco's bitch."

Hermione noticed he was holding his wand, but another was pocketed. "Give me that wand."

He grunted, "Not fucking listening to you."

Her nostrils flared challengingly. "It would be a pity if Draco were to hear about this."

He growled slightly and unwillingly with a grunt handed her the wand. Before he was eaten by the darkness, he gave Hermione a suspicious, fleeting look. Hermione continued making her way up the hill when a graveyard came into view. It was an eerie graveyard against the indigo sky with statues of witches and wizards and broken headstones. The most noticeable grave was the one with a headstone as tall as Hagrid, with detailed flowers engraved into it. Right in front of it was a stone coffin above the ground. Its top was slid slightly open. She approached it, guarded with her wand. And with one peek, it was not difficult to notice stone stairs leading down somewhere deep underground. Hermione with all her might pushed the top off as it fell onto the soft dirt ground. "Lumos." Taking each step slowly with glances back, she followed the stairs down. At the bottom was a small room almost like a cellar with papers and maps scattered across a table. She looked at the papers quickly, taking in as much information as she could.

These were the resistance plans. Where to attack next and profiles on Deatheaters. There was one of Draco.

She scanned it quickly. It had all his information. But what was more frightening was they were stalking him. They knew his routine. Everywhere he shopped at, visited, where he ate, where he could most likely be found. Without hesitation, her wand tip set the profile on fire. Before the fire became too greedy, she shuffled the other papers and profiles into her arms. These needed to be saved if the resistance was going to continue on strong.

Hermione jumped the flights of stairs with the papers stored safety in her various pockets. Who she met at the top was going to cause more trouble. The resistance man who snatched her earlier that she blasted him away.

"Traitor, bitch," he growled, with his wand aiming at her.

With a crackle, a fire whip shot out of her wand, sending the man flying into a tombstone.

Shakily, he attempted to get onto his feet. And she made sure; she was long gone before he could. She ran for all hell, ran as quick as her legs could take her, her heart thundering in her chest to find Draco.

"Ouch!" Hermione fell backward, rubbing her head. When she looked up, she found Astoria across from her. When Astoria looked up, her eyes widen. She snapped her head to look behind her to find Farrow slowly coming to a halt.

"Stupefy!" yelled Hermione.

For the third time that night, Farrow fell to the ground. Hermione shuffled to her feet then helped Astoria up.

"You okay?" Hermione asked.

Her lip was trembling as her eyes became glassy with a layer of tears. "He was angry with me. He was trying to kill me." She sniffed, "I guess we're even."

"Not just yet." Hermione moved to Farrow, mumbling quickly under her breath with her wand waving with effort. "There," she said when she was done. "Now, he has a false memory. When he wakes up, pretend that you fought off someone. Now, we're even."

Hermione turned to leave and began to break into a jog when she swore she heard Astoria call, "I can see why he likes you." Hermione gave one glance back, but didn't notice Astoria. She only noticed the familiar man sprinting in the far distance.

"Granger!"

She continued to run until she was slammed against a door of a house by the memorable embrace of the strong, protective arms. She immediately melted into them, burying her head into his chest and sobbed hard. Draco squeezed her tightly, his heart pounding in his chest. He inhaled her vanilla scent gratefully and he felt himself starving for more. When she looked up with her big watery eyes, he lost all self-control. He kissed her sexually with passion eliciting each second they held each other. Adrenaline was pumping through her as she opened her mouth in the heat of the moment, letting him in. He took her greedily, he pushed for more. The door creaked open as they stumbled in, but they kept their lips locked. He cupped her face, pressing her lips against his. She staggered onto a table and he took her legs as she wrapped them around his waist. She moaned against his mouth and he pulled away from her to leave a trail of kisses along her neck as his thumbs brushed against her collarbones.

"TRAITOR BITCH!"

Draco wheeled around, pulling Hermione off the table and held onto her hand tightly while the other hand pointed his wand at the man.

"First," the man growled, "you send up the Dark Mark into the sky. Next you steal resistance plans. You're a fucking traitor and you're muggle-born…? Like _me_. And you chose their side." He spat at her feet. "Bitch you're going to pay." He waved his wand at Hermione, "Avada—"

Draco stepped in front of Hermione, shoving Hermione to the side. He was now facing death.

**A/N: Thank so so much for all of those who take their time to read this & review =D**

**ANYWHO! This chapter so far was intense for me to write. I know there was much romance in this chapter, but I think this is the only way to continue to build their relationship; by putting them into a whole bunch of chaos.**

**What do you think? What did you think of their kiss? ;)**

**P.S.- Okay, so I tend to post a chapter every couple or few days, but I will be going on a cruise. So, here is the last chapter until I come back. I promise on Jun 5****th**** you can expect another chappie =D**


	17. It Hurts

**A/N: I'm BACK! ^_^ Thanks everyone who was patient and wish me fun on the cruise! It was a blast. There was even HP trivia and I was complimented on my marauders map dress a couple of time. *sighs happily* Still bring HP with me =D**

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Rabastan moving promptly from the shadowy corner with his wand drawn at the man. Draco's face split into horror, facing his death. Hermione swiftly swept her leg hard on the floor, tripping Draco forward. As Draco was falling to the floor, the man finished his spell "—Kedavra!" The great green beam zapped right past Draco's head, missing by centimeters and Draco landed with a thud.

Now everything seemed too fast to happen. Once the thud echoed in the room, Draco yelled quickly, "Avada Kedavra!" Like a green lightning bolt, the curse hit the man center in the chest. He fell backwards like a puppet with crash onto the wooden floor.

Hermione crawled to the man, crying shakily and her whole body trembling violently. "NO!" she sobbed.

Rabastan held out his hand to her. "Give me. Give me what you got!"

She angrily threw the plans, maps and profiles at him, the papers scattering in the air and floating down slowly.

"Lift it," growled Draco who was now up on his feet.

"Hurry," snapped Rabastan.

Draco seized Hermione roughly and out the door. In the blurriness of her tears, she saw the villagers chained in a line. Shackles on their necks, wrist and legs, moving exhaustedly in a line with Deatheaters probing their backs with the wands. Few bodies scattered around them, blackened with dirt and their eyes wide open. Then she felt a tight squeeze as if her body was going through a tube. She no longer heard the chains clanking loudly and instead heard the crickets chirping in the night. There was no cruel laughter in the air, there was just the owls' hoots carried in the icy breeze. He carried her somberly to his room and set her on the bed.

"Granger," he muttered.

At the call of her name, her eyes met with his stormy grey ones and shoved him away in fright. "NO! You killed _him_," she cried shrilly.

"That mudblood tried to kill you," he spat.

Her face split into a look of pain. "I think you're forgetting I'm a mudblood too." She shoved past him toward the door.

"Granger, no I didn't mean it. You're not like him," he reasoned, trying to fix it.

"Not like _him_? In which way I'm _not_? You've killed an innocent man!" she blurted.

"_Innocent_? _Innocent?_" he almost roared. "He almost _FUCKING_ KILLED YOU! I saved your fucking life."

"I don't know why. You don't seem to care about the lives of mudbloods! Because you're a monster!" she cried and left with a slam.

"FUCK YOU, GRANGER!" he bellowed.

Draco was rooted to the spot, glaring at the doorway she just left from. The door creaked open as he growled. Unexpectedly his mother was the one standing at the doorway.

"What's with the commotion?" she asked timidly.

"I went to a…er—"

"Draco!" she howled. "You promise you wouldn't!"

"She came with me. A man almost killed her and I killed him instead," he rambled. "Now she's convinced that he didn't _fucking _try to kill her and that he's _fucking_ innocent and—"

"Give her time," Narcissa said firmly. "She's traumatized that's all. Just going through some sort of shock and her memory is a little jumble up because of it." She squeezed his shoulder, but he pulled away angry. He walked right past her and since then no one hasn't seen Draco in days.

Hermione stared at the bed with dark bags heavy under her eyes and her hair unruly. She heaved a sigh before she guzzled the potion down whole. Now, she will have a nightmare-free night, no more of that man's death haunting or Draco's cruel laughter ringing in the air. There was no way she would bare another night thrashing and screaming and no more waking up sweating or out of breath. Tonight will be the night where she finally get some sleep. She hopped into bed and gazed at the stars.

They twinkled like gems amongst the wisps of the clouds, refusing to stop sparkling their hope. The waxing gibbous moon gleamed a silky sliver almost like a misty glass crystal orb. On the horizon, fog accumulated against the steel blue sky.

He peeled his eyes away from the sky and glared down into his glass of firewhiskey, the ice cubes floating cramped. The chatter of the bar drowned his thoughts and the sea air swept in through the windows, smelling of the salty ocean. He swirled his drink in the glass as the ice clank against its wall. He gulped the last of it and with a slam demanded for more, "Another go." As he watched the barman pour more, he stroked his chin, feeling the new grown whiskers and listened in on a hag's conversion with a vampire. Once his drink was refilled, he guzzled it, but some firewhiskey dribbled on his shirt. "FUCK!" he roared. He threw the glass against the wall as it shattered and firewhiskey splattered everywhere. He stared at the drink trickle down the wall as he screamed loud with clenched fists.

He was hurting.

Hermione's thoughts were stuck on endless replay on two things. The foremost was that horrid night on constant repetition, haunting her now during the day. The second was how to get in contact with Ginny and Reeves. She hoped there was at least one resistance solider that escaped and warned them they been raided. Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door. Hermione turned around from the desk to find Narcissa.

"Have you heard from Draco?" asked Narcissa.

"No."

"Have you tried to reach him?"

"No," replied Hermione bitterly.

She moved warily toward Hermione, placing her hand on her shoulder. "Aren't you worried about him?"

Hermione bit down her bottom lip, thinking. Of course she was worried. How could she not? But right now, she couldn't forgive him. Couldn't face him after what he did. She rather just avoid him. "I am," she answered carefully. "But…he…"

"I _know_. It isn't easy to deal with. But…" Narcissa faded out to her thoughts and Hermione could tell she was thinking hard about what she wanted to say next. "I'm worried for him too. I just hoped that you would know that he is at least okay."

Hermione cocked her head to the side, furrowing her eyebrows, deep in thought. "Perhaps you should get a clock."

"We already have tons of those," Narcissa replied stiffly.

"No. Um… the Weasleys had this clock that tracked each family members' whereabouts. Why don't you get a watch like that? That way it will always be on you and you will have an idea, might be vague, but at least you wouldn't need to worry so much."

"Where are I get one of that?" she asked quickly.

"I believe Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment make them custom-made."

Again Narcissa looked to be thinking hard. "Would…" she faded out again.

Hermione gave her a small smile and suggested, "I can go with you if you'd like."

Narcissa smiled slightly. "Thank you. I would like that."

The bell chimed as they entered the cluttered shop of Wiseacre's. The room was pouring in with sunlight from the grand front bay window. The basin ceiling was enchanted to appear like the starry night sky with star shooting across it. Three-dimensional stars twirled, hanging from the ceiling. A large gold sphere hung with rings rotating around it in the center. Shelves were stacked with globes, solar system miniatures, telescopes, hourglasses, orbs and so much more. In the distant, a whistling was echoing, the sound of a sneakoscope as Hermione noticed a teenage boy slipping a pair of glasses into his pockets.

"In the name of Merlin's English oak's infamous Charms! You there, boy!" An elderly man waddled around the corner with a wooden can warped at the handle. He lifted the cane up and hit the young boy on top of the head. "Empty your pockets!" he croaked loudly.

Sheepishly, the boy handed over the glasses and refused to lock eyes with the man.

"You nasty, stupid boy!" he scolded. "Trying to be a pervert, are you, eh?" He drawled his "eh."

"No sir."

"Don't lie! You know exactly what these lens are for! Trying to see under some poor innocent pure girl clothes?" He shook his cane at the boy's face. "Why aren't you in school, boy?"

"I was suspend…" he replied embarrassedly.

"For? Hey, answer me." Mr. Wiseacre poked him with the cane. "For _what_?"

"I said, 'Long Live the Golden Trio!' And then I got suspend by Headmaster Dracy. He told me I must support the New Dark Age. But…I don't want to…"

Mr. Wiseacre's eyes met with Narcissa, taking notice of her for the first time. His face was blank, but the minute he looked at the boy, he hit him at the side with his cane. "Skedaddle!" He rose the cane once more, but the boy broke into a run, leaving the shop.

"How can I be assistance?" he smiled with his small, crooked teeth as Narcissa shot a disgusted look at the man.

Hermione stepped from behind her with a returning smile. "Mr. Wiseacre, pleasure meeting you."

Mr. Wiseacre's smile widened into a toothy grin. "Hermione _Granger_. _Golden Girl_." He held out his hand. "Pleasure is all mine, darling. What can I do for you?"

"You've made the clock for Mrs. Weasley long ago. I was wondering if you can make one for us."

With a snap of his fingers, a quill and parchment zoomed next to him, ready to write. "I usually don't take orders for those clocks anymore. They aren't as popular anymore. Would you like a watch, regular size clock or perhaps a grandfather?"

"Two watches please," smiled Hermione. She noticed Narcissa staring at her from the corner of her eye.

"The first watch. Who would you like to have on it?" he asked.

Hermione looked at Narcissa encouraging her to order her first. Narcissa cleared her throat then spoke, "I would like to have three people. My son, Draco, my husband, Lucius and my daughter-in-law, Hermione."

Hermione, at hearing her name, her eyes widen in shock. Narcissa cared enough about her to put her on the clock? This was unbelievable.

"And places, Ma'am?" asked Mr. Wiseacre.

"Uh…" Narcissa looked to Hermione for help.

"Home. Work. Travelling. Lost. Hospital. Prison. Mortal Peril. Bar. For Draco. Is it possible he can be detected in _any_ bar?"

"Yes. It is possible. So you do not want a specific bar? Just bar in general?" questioned Mr. Wiseacre without any judgments.

Hermione nodded.

"For the second watch, Miss Granger?"

"I want the same places. For the names, I want Draco, Narcissa and Lucius."

When Narcissa heard her husband's name, she looked curiously at Hermione.

"Alright then," nodded Mr. Wiseacre. "Will get to it. Hopefully, it will be done in a few weeks. Haven't made one for ages."

"Thank you," smiled Hermione.

"Thank you, Mr. Wiseacre." She actually gave him a true smile.

They left the shop into the crowd streets of Diagon Alley. The sky was a light gray cluttered with dark gray clouds. The winds were picking up speed, whistling through the alleyways. The air smelled of rain and was moist. For being in the middle of November, it was rather cool than icy cold.

"I love the smell of rain. It should be an oncoming storm soon," smiled Narcissa at Hermione.

Hermione smiled back without anything to say.

"Ma'am Malfoy!" a man cried. He bowed low to the floor, his long nose almost touching the floor. "Pleasure, ma'am. Need an escort?"

Narcissa scrunched up her nose in annoyance. "No."

And it was like this, every time they weaved through the crowds, they were stopped by someone who insisted on greeting Narcissa as if she was a queen. With each person that approached them, Narcissa's face looked more and more annoyed. Finally, she hissed, "I can't take it anymore and I'm hungry."

"How about we go to Muggle London and get something there to eat?" suggested Hermione.

Narcissa shot Hermione a disgusted look.

"No one is going to bother you there. No one is going to know you exist. Or that I exist."

She bit down on her bottom, thinking then after some time nodded once they were in front of the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione grinned and led Narcissa through the crowd of people in the Leaky Cauldron. Draco cocked his eyebrows questioningly at seeing his mother and Hermione with smiles walking out the Leaky Cauldron into Muggle London. He took another gulp of his drink and moved further into the shadowy corner. Hermione and Narcissa walked a couple blocks and went into an Irish Pub. They slid into a booth and the waiter gave them large menus with endless amount of choices. Despite this, they quickly ordered their entrée with fine wine. Narcissa eyes darted around the place, examining the area's details.

When her eyes landed on Hermione, she spoke, "It doesn't really look any different. There's at least no hags or vampires here."

Hermione laughed, "Yeah you're right."

At this Narcissa slightly smiled. "What do you think of that girl?" She nodded toward a blonde wavy haired girl with big brown eyes and beautifully pale skin. At this Hermione became uncomfortable, feeling as if Narcissa was trying to hint that the girl would look lovely with Draco.

"She's really pretty," said Hermione in a small voice.

"And that one?" Now she nodded toward a black-skinned girl with soft curls, full of volume, a drop-dead gorgeous smile and hazel eyes.

"She's really pretty too…"

"Excuse me. I will be right back." Narcissa left her seat and purposely bumped into both girls and without an apology, she came right back with a small smile, holding up a blonde and black pieces of hair. "For the Masquerade Ball."

"Masquerade Ball? Isn't that a Muggle party?"

"Well, yes," Narcissa smiled. "But we put a twist into it. A mask cannot truly hide your identity. We also use Polyjuice Potions to really hide our identities. The mask are our accessories really. I bought you a dress for it. The ball is next week. It is a fun night to get to know people without any judgments. Of course, some people take the night as an opportunity to cheat which is why we show who are to our kids at least. I heard rumors that Lucius has cheated plenty of time during the Ball… I can only hope Draco doesn't do the same to you…"

Hermione didn't say anything. She could see Draco taking an opportunity like this to have a one-night stand especially when he's been denied to have that sexual satisfaction for a month now.

"But that is wishful thinking," she admitted.

Hermione nodded.

"I can remember like it was yesterday when he was so young and innocent. He grew up too fast with the pressure of the world and the rise of the Dark Lord… When he was young, he used to call every dog _horse_ even after I explained to him the difference. It was so cute, you wouldn't believe it," she laughed.

Narcissa plummeted into Draco's childhood memories, every memory bringing a wider smile to her face and Hermione couldn't help, but to smile as well. They ate and laughed about Draco, teasing him. Time passed as the clouds outside grew darker. When they finally left, the sky sprinkled raindrops lightly, but once the Leaky Caldron was in sight, the rain pelted down, splattering. They picked up their speed, their boots splashing the newly formed puddles. Hermione heard Narcissa from behind her, laughing loudly with true bliss as she grinned. Once they were in the Leaky Caldron, Hermione and Narcissa's eyes met and they broke into grins.

"The rain has always been so incredibly pleasant for me," Narcissa smiled as she patted down her matted hair, heavy with rain.

"Yes, it feels somewhat freeing in way. When you just let it soak you," Hermione beamed.

Draco put his drink down slowly, studying his mother and Hermione talking with smiles. He felt terrible, watching them. Guilty in a way. It seemed his mother was…_getting closer_ to Hermione? He lied to his mother about the marriage and about his feelings. This is why he felt gauilty. Although his feeling wouldn't necessarily be all a lie… _The fuck you thinking, Draco. She called you a monster. She thinks your some type of beast. She hates you as much as you hate her_, he thought bitterly.

Hermione was at the desk, starting out the window in a daze as she brushed the feather of the quill under her nose, liking the way the softness of the feather tickled. Her diary was opened before her with the date on top. It was the day before the ball. The ball filled her thoughts as she wondered whether tomorrow would be a good time to take advantage of the disguise and do some snooping in Lucius' office. She heaved a sigh as the feather blew from her breath. She looked down at the journal when a figure appeared onto of her journal. She shirked from shock and stumbled back into the chair which tipped over. As she helped herself to her feet, she noticed it was a diricawl with a letter attached to its leg.

It squawked and Hermione hissed, "Sh!"

She gently untied the letter. It was from Ginny,

_Dear Hermione, _

_I have some really bad news. And first off let me tell you how sorry I am. I hope you will be okay after I tell you this. I really wish I could be there for you. Oh, Merlin, I'm so sorry. But Ron's cheating. _

**A/N: =O Is it safe to assume Ron is out of the picture? **

**As always, thanks SO much for the reviews!**


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